BIONICLE and RWBY: Masters of Remnant
by Stardustdragon123
Summary: After the defeat of Kulta the Skull Grinder, a strange occurrence causes the Toa to be seperated from Ekimu, Okoto and each other. Now stranded on the world of Remnant, as they stride to reunite and return back to the island, all is not as it seems. Can the Toa reunite with one another and return back to Okoto? Has the shadow of Makuta followed them there? (DISCONTINUED)
1. Welcome to Remnant

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my latest crossover from outside of my usual domain. If you haven't already figured it out from the brief synopsis, this story has the involvement of the G2 continuity from Bionicle (some G1 elements may come into play later, one of which will be hinted at in this opening chapter). The opening 10 (possibly 12) chapters will be set between the end of Volume 1 and before the start of Volume 2 for RWBY. So for now, I hope you will enjoy what I have got in store for you.**

 _ **Disclaimer - BIONICLE is owned by The LEGO Company and RWBY is owned by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Productions. Neither franchise belongs to me and are the sole properties of their respective owners.**_

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Trees. Only that and the grass beneath him that did not seem to change at all to indicate a straight path for him to follow. That was all that he had come across through his search for answers. A loud, collective groan sounded out from the figure as he could do nothing but express his frustration out in the open from where he was standing. His appearance, although humanoid to an extent, seemed much more metallic to the first glance for anyone unfamiliar with the sort of appearance that he and the others carried. He was clad completely in bright red armour, with several detailed gold attachments present near the waist and on the armour that was on his shoulders and arms in addition to the golden armour piece that was present at the top of his chest which possesed several tribal like markings.

Mounted on his back were two small golden swords, weaponry that he could call upon to defend himself for the given moment if he needed to. The figure also wore what appeared to be some sort of golden mask, obscuring his face completely save for the bright blue eyes that could be seen through the eye holes. This mask had a vent of some sort that was present near the top at the forehead, two smaller vents on each side that was covering up the figure's cheeks and a squarish like circle that was idented at where the mouth was being covered over. Although his facial expression was not seen, his eyes were more than enough for anyone who approached him to see that he was not in the best of moods.

Clasping ahold of the giant silver blades with the flame like patterns that they held in their interior, that he held in his hands of the same colour, he slammed them down to the ground in fury, letting out a large cry of fury as he did so. This resulted in him unleashing a torrent of flames that struck the large tree that was several feet in front of him, incinerating it and the grass leading up to it in a matter of seconds. The figure then stood back up, huffing under his breath in an attempt to keep his composure from the situation that lay in front of him.

 _If this is what Lewa calls his idea of 'fun' in his own region, then I do not see it._

He looked forwards towards the tree that he had incinerated moments ago to see that it was now nothing more than a charred trunk with several small flames surrounding it. Sighing under his breath, he took several steps forward in the silver boot like feet that he had, feeling no pain from the scorching hot ground that he was treading over by the second. His gaze remained fierce as he continued onwards, until he stepped on a twig from the scorched tree which cracked loudly with a SNAP! As the figure was about to take another step forward, he suddenly heard a noise. Pausing instinctively, he could hear that same noise getting louder and louder towards him.

Turning around, he quickly held out his large silver blades out in front of him, just in time to see a pitch black, sleek creature of some sort with red eyes, several white spikes sticking out from its arms, shoulders and spine and what appeared to be some sort of white mask on the top of its head. The creature that he could see appeared to resemble some sort of bipedal wolf. The mask was different from his own, its appearance having determined that it would not be suited to be worn by humanoid like beings such as himself, the red markings being somewhat of an indicator to that factor. It growled viciously under its breath as it dashed on its hind legs towards the red armoured figure as he braced himself for impact.

The creature using its white nailed claws, slashed against the two blades. This slightly knocked the figure backwards, but not enough for him to stumble around or become disoriented. Now seeing that the creature in front of him was hostile, the red armoured figure gazed fiercly at it before charging headforth towards it, as it did towards him. Both slashed at each other with his blade and the creature's claws matching blow for blow as each one tried to overpower the other with their own brute strength. Both gazed into each other's eyes, their determination for victory having now become present in their expression. Then, after a brief stalemate in their clash, they were pushed back several feet, awaiting for one of them to make a fatal mistake.

"You hold brute strength that can match my own," the figure boldy declared "But it appears you do not know of what I hold!"

The figure then held up his two silver blades, a fiery orange like aura surrounding both his entire body and his weapons, heat and flame now beginning to course through him. The creature growled as it suddenly charged towards him, as the figure suddenly gazed upon it once again.

"For I am... the MASTER OF FIRE!"

The 'Master of Fire' then slammed his weapons down into the ground in front of him, much like he did when he took out his anger and fury upon the tree he incinerated earlier, unleashing a large torrent of flames that struck down across the grass in a wide, straight line. The fire struck the creature head on, causing it to shriek loudly in the pain, the fire and the heat having an effect on it. Eventually after a short while, the flames had died down, revealing that it had now been severly weakened by the attack that it had barely endured through on its own. Most of its fur had now been incinerated, with small flames still being present on the patches that had been not completely reduced to a smoldering pile of ash.

The red armoured figure then let out a mighty battle cry that echoed across the area of the forest that he was now present in and charged towards the sleek and formerly vicious creature, slashing past it with both of his blades as he passed it. The creature then fell to the ground, now completely motionless amongst the smoldering flames and the ash that it now lay amongst. Seeing that the threat to him was now gone, the figure turned around and briefly looked at it before continuing on his way through the dense glade of trees that he was advancing through previously. As he passed the burnt tree trunk that he was previously doing so before the creature attacked him, he suddenly turned his head to focus in on a certain sound he heard.

It was a rustle of leaves and that could only mean that something else was nearby. Was it like the creature that had attacked him at this very moment or was it something or someone else? The 'Master of Fire' then held his two large blades at the ready in a defensive position as he took a stance of the same sort, his eyes fiercly gazing in the direction of where he had heard the rustling leaves come from. Then he could hear what appeared to be footsteps from what he could make out from the small noises he could hear just now.

"Show yourself!" he declared, feeling ready to take on any hostile opposition that happened to come before him now.

What appeared before him now however seemed to be anything but hostile, compared to the creature that he had fought moments ago. A middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes came into the view of the red armoured figure. He had a light complexion and sharp facial features. The man wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf with a small, purple, cross-shaped emblem on it and carried what appeared to be a cane of some sort. His outfit consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green undershirt in addition to black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. His gaze was directed upon the figure as was the figure's upon him.

"It appears from the destruction here that you have demonstrated much, strange being," he spoke "Or 'Master of Fire' as you have called yourself."

"Who are you?" the red armoured figure asked, his voice still retaining a hint of some fierceness to it.

"I am Ozpin," the man answered "I came to Emerald Forest outside of the borders of my domain to investigate a strange anomaly, only to find you and the element you possess. If you have a name, would you kindly address it?"

"I am Tahu," the figure replied, his tone now more bold rather than partially fierce "Master of Fire, Defender of the Region of Fire and one of six Toa of Okoto. If you will excuse me, I must return to the City of the Mask Makers to find my team and Ekimu, the Mask Maker."

Ozpin at first said nothing in response, taking everything into account that Tahu had told him about at this very moment. The fact that he mentioned there being six Toa had somewhat intrigued him, wanting him to know more about these others that he had briefly mentioned. However, he felt that there was somewhat of complication with the Master of Fire's desire to go to this 'City of the Mask Makers' that he had brought up. And he felt that if there was anything he could do to prevent an unforeseen unfavourable outcome for him, he would have to tell him about it.

"I am sorry to disappoint you," he spoke "But I'm afraid I don't know anything about this Okoto or the city that you are looking for."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tahu "As far as I am aware from all of this... greenery, this should be the Region of Jungle."

"Where you are now appears to now be beyond your familiarity," Ozpin replied "This is the Emerald Forest, on the Kingdom of Vale. As far as I am aware, there is no Okoto on the world of Remnant or its history."

The Master of Fire remained still, his head still holding many questions about where he was and why he was apparently no longer on the island of Okoto and away from the other Toa. The fact that Ozpin had claimed to have never seen Okoto on 'this world of Remnant' had only led to even more questions than he had of answers. The man looked more closely at Tahu, managing to take some note of the confused and somewhat frustrated expression that he could see through his blue eyes from behind the golden mask that the Toa wore on his face.

"If you wish to know more about where you now find yourself," he spoke "Then if you could kindly follow me back to Beacon Academy where I may find it easier to explain everything to you."

"Very well then," Tahu replied as he eventually lowered his blades before stashing them on his back, just beneath the two smaller golden swords he already had stashed there.

Ozpin smiled a little before he turned around to make his way back to this 'Beacon Academy' that he had mentioned about just a few moments ago. The Toa of Fire followed suite, inwardly sighing in relief that he could now find his way out of the dense forest after spending the entire morning trying to find his own way out. Much like a certain other Toa that he knew of very well, he wouldn't admit this fault to the others. Not on his own watch.

* * *

Eventually, after several long minutes of walking, both Ozpin and Tahu had eventually exited the Emerald Forest and made their way to the top of Beacon Cliffs. Although the man had suggested to taking his route around the cliffs to make it to the top, the Master of Fire had little trouble making his way up the sheer cliff face by stabbing his larger blades into the rock face, one at a time which allowed him to make his ascent with slow, but efficient ease. He seemed thankful however that the Toa was still willing to wait for him to eventually meet with him at the top after taking the longer route upwards. He then continued to lead the way through some more trees, thankfully with not as many on this path to infuriate Tahu any further from his earlier trouble.

They walked onwards for just a little longer until they could faintly see what appeared to be a tall tower in the distance. When they had eventually left the brief glade behind them, the two of them then walked onto a hard flat surface that seemed to resemble a road or a pavement of some sort that held several lamposts on both sides of the pathway. They then came to what appeared to be a four way crossroad, though they could easily see that the path to Beacon Academy was on the pavement that branched off to the left. Ozpin walked out in front as Tahu followed closely behind before the man suddenly came to a stop. The Master of Fire followed suit as he looked out in front of him to see why exactly he had stopped at this very moment.

Out in front of them and approaching them in somewhat of a hurry was a young silver-eyed girl with shoulder-length black hair with a red tint to it, who was dressed in a black blouse, a black corset with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak. Her expression seemed very intrigued, with a hint of eagerness to it as she eventually stopped in front of both Ozpin and Tahu, much to the Master of Fire's partial confusion.

"Ozpin!" she called "I heard you had gone into the Emerald Forest and... I saw smoke rising from there!"

"At ease, Ruby," Ozpin spoke, placing a hand on her right shoulder to calm her down. "I understand your concern, but what happened down there was merely the result of an outrage of flames."

"I see..." the girl, now known as Ruby, replied as she then looked over towards Tahu. She couldn't help but take particular interest in the golden mask that the Toa wore and the two large silver blades with the flame like patterns that he still held in his hands.

"So... who or what are you?" she asked in curiousity.

"I am Tahu, Master of Fire," he answered, maintaining a bold and somewhat proud tone to his voice.

"Right..." Ruby replied, still unsure of what to make from the way that the Toa of Fire spoke out as she looked back to Ozpin. "So... did you find him in the forest?"

"That is correct," he replied "I came across him after witnessing his sheer power of heat and flame against a Beowolf that had attacked him. Although he was successful in overpowering it, I believe he still has much to learn about the dangers of Remnant."

"Are you saying there are more dangers out there like that 'thing' I defeated?" Tahu asked, his gaze sharpening and his voice shifting his tone to match his partial uneasiness to this news.

"All will become clear to you once we step inside the walls of Beacon Academy," Ozpin answered as he turned his attention back to Ruby. "If you could be kind as to bring the rest of your team along to the Lecture Hall that is not in use? I believe we all have much to discuss before Tahu can become fully acqainted with his new surroundings."

"Sure! I'll get right to it!" Ruby replied enthusiastically as she then ran off around the fountain near the end of the pathway before waving goodbye to the two of them and entering inside the academy through the large front doors. Tahu didn't know what to think after meeting the girl. Although she seemed somewhat bewildered after seeing him for the first time, she didn't seem uncomfortable with the fact that he looked different compared to the kind that she and Ozpin were a part of. The man then walked out a little in front, indicating for the Master of Fire to do same as the two headed towards the front doors that Ruby had used to enter the entrance hall of Beacon Academy. The Toa looked up for a brief moment to see the imposing height of the Academy's tower before finally stepping inside the building in front of him.

* * *

When Ozpin and Tahu entered the inside of the Academy, the first thing the Master of Fire could immediately notice was the amount of stares that were suddenly brought to his presence in the entrance hall. He could see that a majority of the students, particuarly the more younger ones had all brought their attention towards him, mainly for his strange appearance. Most of the stares were made up primarily of confusion from what he could make out, although none of them seemed hostile in any sort of way. A small cough from Ozpin caused the students to resume whatever conversations or activities that they were doing prior to his and Tahu's entry as he led the way to the empty Lecture Hall for the Toa.

After walking through several corridors and hallways, with the occasional confused and surprised glances that were directed towards Tahu from more students as they passed through, the two of them arrived at a single door. Ozpin opened it up, revealing a large room with several rows of seats on either side of a small bookcase, a desk at the very front with a large blackboard mounted to the wall directly behind it and on the two angled walls on both sides lay a single bookcase and hanging from the roof above on those same walls were two seperate large fabrics that had a green and blue colour along with their own unique emblem respectively.

"Please take a seat of your choice, if you wish to," Ozpin spoke, interrupting Tahu's thoughts for a brief moment.

The Toa looked across towards the rows of seats and chose to go towards the row at the bottom of the stairs to his left and took up the first seat that he had come across. He was somewhat surprised that even with the weight of his armour that it did not break immediately, but chose to ignore that thought. He then turned to face Ozpin who was now standing in front of the desk at the front of the Lecture Hall.

"So, where would you like to begin?" the man asked.

"I would like to know of this Remnant, that you say I am now in," Tahu replied "What exactly is it?"

"Very well then," Ozpin answered "Remnant is the world that we 'humans', faunus and many other creatures currently live and you currently reside in. Every one of us and the other beings that inhabit this world possess the physical manifestation of an aura that is simply known as a soul. Much of its earlier history has been lost to the recesses of time itself, but it is believed that our kind, as you have seen around the Academy have come into existence from the substance known only as Dust. Dust is the name given to the power and substance that humans had used to turn the tide of the conflict in the days of old. We were born into what was at the time, a hostile and a somewhat very different world, forced to survive against the soulless creatures of darkness known only as the Grimm."

"Then that 'Beowolf' as you described earlier... That was a Grimm?" the Master of Fire asked, briefly interrupting.

"That is correct," the man replied "You were only fortunate that its fur had made it extremely vulnerable to your power of heat and flame. There are much stronger Grimm across Remnant that may be more resistant to your kind of power. Now moving back to my answer, the world of Remnant is split into four kingdoms. The one where Beacon Academy is stationed and where we currently stand is Vale. This Academy was founded in the purpose of training younger humans into becoming hunters and huntresses so that they will be able to fend off the threat of Grimm on their own terms."

As he finished up his answer, the door to the Lecture Hall opened up, bringing both his and Tahu's attention towards the doorway at the top of the stairs where they could see their all too familiar acqaintance that they had met outside of the Academy's front entrance.

"Ah Ruby," Ozpin spoke "I'm happy to see that you and the rest of your team could join us."

Ruby smiled as she entered the room along with three other females that were just a little taller than she was. They all shared equally confused expressions in regards to seeing Tahu for the first time, but eventually mellowed out as they approached the Master of Fire, having been informed of his 'different than usual appearance' from Ruby beforehand when she went to their dorm.

"Well, my sister wasn't kidding when she said you looked a little strange," the first of the three girls spoke. She had long and somewhat messy blonde hair with purple eyes and wore a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow low-cut crop top with a black crest that seemed to resemble a burning heart. The vest has puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs, each side possessing two golden buttons. She also wore a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object that possessed a golden coloured version of the crest on her top with black shorts underneath that seemd to resemble a pleated skirt in the back. Over the short shorts but under the belt was a white asymmetrical back skirt.

"And you are?" Tahu asked.

"Yang," the girl answered. "I guess it's nice to meet you, Tahu."

"My name is Blake," the next girl said. She had amber eyes and long wavy black hair with what appeared to be a large bowtie like ribbon tied to it at the top of her head. She wore a black buttoned vest with coattails and a white sleeveless undershirt that exposed part of her midriff with white shorts along with black low-heeled boots and stockings that started off black at her hips before gradually fading to purple as they got near her shoes. Blake also wore black ribbons on both of her arms, with a black detached sleeve and a silver band on her left arm.

"Weiss," the final girl answered, her tone seeming somewhat more mannerist, reminding Tahu of a certain Toa who spoke somewhat like that. Weiss had white hair and light and wore blue eyes a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero was red with the sleeves becoming blue as they got closer to her wrists. The back of the bolero displayed the a crest of some sort, which bore a resemblance to a snowflake.

"That's everyone else," Ruby spoke "And together, we form Team RWBY!"

Tahu said nothing in response to the younger girl's enthusiastic appearance and tone of voice, but even so, he could find it hard to believe that these four 'humans' that Ozpin referred themselves to as would have the same capability of fighting off threats that could be considered somewhat similar to the dangers that he and the other Toa had encountered on Okoto. If only the Toa of Fire knew exactly what one of the four girls standing by the doorway was not exactly like the rest.

"Well, now that you are all here," Ozpin spoke out "Perhaps you would be willing to share your own history with us Tahu."

"So, where do you want to start?" Ruby asked "It looks like you don't come from around here."

"That is right," Tahu answered "I was on the island of Okoto, on a different world as Ozpin has pointed out to me. My history before arriving there however, I do not know."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked in curiousity.

"All I know from the beginning was that I seemed to crash down upon the island from the stars," the Master of Fire explained "I wasn't aware of this at the time, but I wasn't the only one to have arrived under those events. I was met by several villagers from the region I had awoken in along with their elder, Narmoto, the Protector of Fire. He told me that he and the other five Protectors had summoned me and 5 other Toa from the stars with the Prophecy of Heroes to find my Golden Mask of Power and defeat the evil that had been plaguing the island."

"You mean that gold mask you are wearing now?" asked Yang.

"Yes," he replied "The first threat that I had to encounter on my journey to claim this mask was the Skull Spiders that had been enslaving the villagers across Okoto by taking control of their minds. After recieving my mask, I gained amazing powers of heat and flame and was then able to hear the voice of Ekimu, the Mask Maker. Narmoto then told me that I had to make my way to the City of the Mask Makers near the edge of the Region of Jungle where I would meet up with the other 5 Toa and together, we would awaken the Mask Maker and defeat evil. When we met for the first time at the bridge to the ruined city, not all of us became well acqainted."

"Who are these other 5 Toa?" asked Weiss.

"There were Gali; Toa of Water, Lewa; Toa of Jungle, Onua; Toa of Earth, Pohatu; Toa of Stone and Kopaka; Toa of Ice," Tahu answered "We all had a disagreement on leadership and before we could settle for a vote after Kopaka and I brawled for that right, we were faced with the Lord of Skull Spiders. Attempting to attack it from our own angles, we found our lone efforts to be meaningless until Onua suggested that we worked together to bring down our common foe at the time. Following his sound advice, we succeeded in defeating him. Afterwards, we heard the voice of Ekimu through our golden masks and following their energies, we battled through many of the undead in the city until we finally came to the tomb of the Mask Maker himself."

All of the girls in Team RWBY and Ozpin continued to listen to the Master of Fire's story, intrigued by everything that he and the other Toa had been through so far up to where he had got to in his explanation.

"Using the power of our combined elements," he continued "We awoke him from his slumber and discovered that the root of the evil in Okoto was through his brother, Makuta and that at this very moment, one of his servants Kulta, otherwise known as Skull Grinder, was starting up his forge to destroy his own mask, the Mask of Creation. With no time to lose, we set off to stop him, briefly having a minor setback with his final guard, Skull Basher. When we arrived, Kulta donned the Mask of Creation as his own, leaving us to fight him whilst Ekimu had to quickly attend to something. Despite our best efforts, although we could slow him down, he had quickly overpowered us in the blink of an eye. The last thing I remember seeing before falling unconscious was seeing Ekimu using his reassembled hammer to knock Kulta off balance to give him the chance he needed to reclaim the Mask of Creation. When we came around, our masks were repaired and that we were now tasked with rebuilding the city to accomodate the return of the villagers from across the six regions."

"So... how did you get to the Emerald Forest?" Ruby pondered.

"That is something that I don't entirely know," said Tahu. "Whilst we were making our way to the bridge to try and rebuild it after an accident from Onua in a previous battle, some of the Skull Warriors that he seemingly 'buried' in that same 'accident' had ambushed us. In the cold hands of one of them, was a strange golden mask that looked like nothing we had ever seen before. Before Ekimu could exclaim as to what it was, the undead warrior put it on his face and then... everything after that, I do not remember."

The entire room fell silent as the Toa had eventually finished up his tale about himself and how he had gotten himself into the world of Remnant. Whilst Ozpin had remained composed, yet still intrigued from everything about Okoto that he had heard from the Master of Fire's story, the girls however were mostly surprised, with Ruby and Yang being somewhat speechless to an extent. To think that there was some kind of world that existed beyond Remnant was something they believed could only exist in the realms of fiction and yet, seeing a being before them that actually existed from said other world was somewhat of a marvel to behold.

"It sounds like you and the other Toa have been through a lot," murmured Blake.

"Did any of them end up in the Emerald Forest with you?" asked Weiss.

"No," Tahu answered "But if they did come with me, then it looks like we have been seperated from each other. For now, my only goal is to return to Okoto to restore the peace there and help Ekimu continue the fight against Makuta's evil."

"But without that mask you said the undead warrior was wearing," Ruby murmured "Even with the technology in Remnant, I'm not sure how you're going to make it back to Okoto."

The Toa remained silent for the moment, having known that the huntress-in-training was correct in her assumption. Unless he could somehow find something that could have a similar power to the mask that the Skull Warrior had put on his face, there was no possible way for him to return to Okoto. Even if he could, who was to say that the other Toa or even Ekimu were no longer in the City of the Mask Makers and stranded across Remnant, much like him. Before anyone could think of anything else to break the silent tension in the room, a panting noise was heard as a student suddenly came rushing up to the doorway, just stopping short in front of Ruby and Yang who turned around in response to the sound.

"Grimm sighted... near the Academy Entrance...!" he panted "Some of them... look like skeletons!"

The sudden short, but brief description was enough to make Tahu to leap out from his seat towards the doorway in front of him, prompting everyone to move clear as his silver feet hit the ground. He ran through the corridor to try and find his way towards the entrance, ignoring the confused glances by everyone else in the hallway and the student that had come to deliver the warning. That was when the answer had hit Blake.

"Tahu must think one of them might be the warrior with that mask!" she gasped.

"Then we'd better go and help him," Ruby replied, the first to make a decision on what to do.

The other girls nodded in agreement and followed her in pursuit of the Master of Fire whilst the out of breath student was held up on his feet by Ozpin who had come up to the door. As he watched Team RWBY run off down the corridor until they were no longer in sight, there was only one thing on his mind in regards to the day's events thus far, including the appearance of Tahu and everything that the Master of Fire had told him about in regards to himself, the other Toa and the island of Okoto.

" _This should prove to be very interesting indeed,_ " he thought.

* * *

 **And there we go! As Tahu charges forth to join the battle in which he believes the Skull Warrior that wore the strange golden mask that had brought him here is present from a description given, Team RWBY rush to aid him against the Grimm that were sighted on the said battle. Can the Master of Fire recover the strange mask from the undead warrior, if he is even there, and more importantly, will he be able to reunite with the other Toa despite not knowing where they are? All will be revealed in the next chapter of the Masters of Remnant. Feel free to share your thoughts in the reviews and I'm always open to any suggestions or criticisms you may have. Until next time, I'll leave you to guess what exactly that strange golden mask could be.**


	2. The Heat of Battle

**Hello everyone and welcome back! So far from the initial feedback (as of the time of this chapter's upload date), things seem to be progressing positively for the moment. So for now, I hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

* * *

At the crossroads that were just a short walk away from the entrance of Beacon Academy, several students ran as quickly as they could towards nearby cover as a large Grimm and its new 'aqaintances' marched onwards towards the area where the fountain was. This Grimm was much bigger than the Beowolf that Tahu had previously fought in the Emerald Forest, looking more like quadruped with many features associated with a boar, including cloven-feet, a line of hair sprouting from its spine, snub snout along with a series of plates along its back and on its thighs and four sets of tusks. Two were fixed to the top of its upper jaw whilst two larger curved tusks were located beneath the entire set of jaws.

Walking alongside it were several humanoid like figures with skeletal like features, evidenced by some of their 'bones' seeming very hollow, their faces seemed to resemble some kind of skulls with a dark metallic look to them and the lower halves of their ribcages that shimmered an eerie translucent light blue. The armour that they wore seemed mismatched to an extent along with the appearance of their complete arms to an extent. Some of the skeletal figures carried long lance like blades whilst the other wielded a large bow like weapon with six small holes located in the front center of the weapon. Nothing however was more unnerving about them than the dark orange reddish glow that they had in their eyes.

One of the figures stood atop the Grimm, as if it had some kind of dominance over the creature as they made their way towards Beacon Academy. What was different about this skeletal figure from the rest was the strange golden mask that it wore on the front of its face. Two long eye holes were carved just above the center and beneath them lay the wider half, each side with a large spike protuding out over the edge. Several small indented were present in the front left and right sides on the large part of the golded mask and a rectangular like shape was cast over the portion that would cover a mouth, much like the shape near the bottom of Tahu's own golden mask. The upper half of the mask had faded into a translucent light blue, as if it was somehow being affected by the skeletal being that wore it for the time being.

Watching the creature and the advancing skeletal warriors advancing from the safety of their own cover behind a small structure, four individuals looked on at the 'invaders' to the Academy, each or rather most of them already on their guard to take action when the right opportunity arose. Whilst the two males and one of the females of their team looked on towards their adversaries of the moment, the second female who had short orange hair and turquoise eyes seemed a little less than... distracted to say the least. Whilst she was glancing over the various Skull Warriors from her team's cover spot, she couldn't help but quietly hum some kind of tune to herself that she thought couldn't help but somewhat suit their appearance. *****

"What are these things?" one of the males asked out. He had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back. There was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair with the colour of his eyes matching said streak. His clothing appeared to look almost oriental to an extent.

"I'm not sure I even want to know Ren," the other one replied. This boy had dark-blue eyes that were emphasized by his messy blonde hair. He wore a white chestplate complete with shoulder armor with a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves underneath it and an emblem of some kind that was hidden underneath the armour. Strapped to the left side of his waist in a sheath was his sword, his main offensive weapon in the heat of combat.

"Either way Jaune, we need to stop this Grimm and whatever those skeleton looking things are quickly," the first female spoke out. She had red hair in a waist-length ponytail, curled slightly into a loose ringlet and vivid green eyes with light-green eyeshadows around the far upper corners. Her top consists of two layers, one being a light-brown, strapless top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns and the bottom layer was a low bronze V-neck. She wore an elastic, red, A-line miniskirt and brown cut-off sleeves on both arms. She wears a red ankle-length drapery that appears to be wrapped around her skirt.

Before Jaune could even consider drawing up a plan of attack, all of them, including the other female, turned their attention to the front doors of Beacon Academy to see Tahu racing outside with his large silver blades already drawn out. As he took up a stance to prepare for battle against the looming threat, Team RWBY shortly followed suit as well, stopping just behind the Master of Fire as they saw the Grimm and the Skull Warriors that stood out from a distance in front of them. That was when the Toa noticed something familar as he looked up to the undead figure that stood atop the creature. Yang looked up and managed to see what had caught Tahu's attention at this very moment.

"There!" she called.

Ruby, Weiss and Blake looked up to the Skull Warrior that stood atop the large Grimm, now noticing exactly what she was talking about. The shine reflecting off the gold coat of the mask along with the translucent blue shade near the top made it easy to spot from amongst the approaching danger.

"That must be the mask that Tahu was looking for," the younger sister of Yang murmured.

Before she or anyone else had a chance to react, the Skull Warriors on either side of the Grimm held out their bows in front and began firing shots of energy right at the huntresses and Tahu who instinctively leapt back to dodge the bullets. The Master of Fire held out his blades in front of his golden mask in an effort to shield himself from the rapid fire that had come in his direction. In response, Team RWBY immediately summoned out their weapons of choice before looking on into the firefight ahead of them. Ruby wielded what appeared to be some kind of crimson red scythe with a small jagged blade at the bottom of the shaft, Yang wore two bracelet like gauntlets that covered both her wrists and hands, Blake with two dark grey katana like blades that somewhat reminded the Toa of the weapons used by a certain Master of Jungle and Weiss carried a long sword that seemed to resemble a rapier.

"Ruby!" The girls turned their heads to see one of the females from Jaune's group that were behind their cover spot calling out to them, the voice also gaining the attention of Tahu who looked over towards them.

"Friend of yours?!" she called.

"He's with us Pyrrha!" replied Ruby "Tahu was his name if you wondering!"

By the time the huntress-in-training had already finished her speech, both groups could hear a loud battle cry as the Master of Fire leapt into the action by charging head on towards the Skull Warriors and the Grimm, his blades held out at the ready. The Skull Warriors that wielded their bows then began to turn their attention towards him as they fired head on at the Toa. Tahu leaped from side to side, dodging the oncoming bullets and occasionally having to use his blades to try and block them before running right towards the Grimm in front of him head on. The creatute roared loudly before ramming its larger tusks into the weapons that the Toa was carrying in his hand. Tahu struggled to resist being pushed back by the Grimm, but was quickly finding himself being overpowered by its sheer mass and brute strength alone. The Skull Warrior that stood atop the creature brought out his own bow like the others on the ground and took aim at the Master of Fire.

"Get down!"

Tahu then instinctively ducked downwards as Yang suddenly came up from behind and leaped forwards, before landing a large punch with her right gauntlet on the Skull Warrior, the blow combined with a somewhat effective flash knocking the weapon out of its arms. Before she could attack it again, she quickly leaped off the Grimm to avoid being shot down by the other Skull Warriors that were around the creature. Weiss then charged towards a Skull Warrior that was armed with a long jagged blade rather than a bow and was further away from the rest of its group. With a sudden click, the rapier she was carrying began to coat itself in a fiery like aura, gaining the attention of Tahu after he briefly broke off with his clash from the Grimm.

The Skull Warrior attempted to strike Weiss with the blade that it carried, but the rapier simply cut through the jagged weapon thanks to the additional aura that it had recieved earlier, causing the part that had fallen off to drip with a small bit of molten metal. The undead figured stumbled backwards from being knocked off balance by her sudden manuvere before she then proceded to use her rapier to slice right through the shimmering blue skeletal torso. The upper half of the Skull Warrior fell to the ground, the lower torso following shortly afterwards, both ends dripping in some kind of molten metal before the dark reddish eyes went out, indicating that it was no longer undead or a threat to her anymore.

"At least we can cut into these freaks since they're just warriors that are already dead," she remarked.

"Weiss, look out!"

Weiss turned around too late to heed Yang's warning as a volley of shots from a small batch of Skull Warriors suddenly fired upon her. Although she managed to leap back to dodge most of the shots, one of them hit the top of the hilt of her rapier as it was thrown out of her left hand from the impact and sent flying through the air until it landed near Tahu, a small rattling sound being heard amongst the loud clang as it hit the pavement. Weiss mentally cursed herself for being briefly distracted as she then tried to run towards her weapon only for several more shots from the earlier Skull Warriors to block her path.

"Tahu, can you pass 'Myrtenaster' back to me?!" she called.

The Master of Fire heard her call and suddenly noticed the rapier that had landed near him. Quickly assuming that was what Weiss had called her weapon, he briefly turned his attention away from the Grimm and the Skull Warrior that stood atop it as he ran towards Myrtenaster and tossed it back to her. Weiss then caught her weapon before briefly looking to a small cylinder like chamber above the hilt, each adorned with its own unique colours. That was when she had now noticed that something was very wrong.

" _The blast must have dislocated the Red Dust!_ " she inwardly groaned " _I'll just have to make do and be thankful that Tahu got this back in one piece._ "

With another click, the small cylinder rotated the Dust slots around by 1 in a clockwise direction from her perspective before she then charged back into the battle. Meanwhile on the other side of Beacon Academy's entrance, Blake and Ruby were having barely any trouble in dealing with the Skull Warriors that were firing upon them. The ones that had blades were rather quickly overpowered by their own weapons, Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud, which had left them somewhat surprised that the Skull Warriors that were wielding bows had not yet taken aim at them. Of course, the moment that they had thought about that, some of the skeletal figures that had been firing upon Weiss had now turned their attention towards them.

Noticing the sudden change in their targets now that their numbers were dwindling, Yang then turned around towards the Skull Warriors firing upon Ruby and Blake before pointing both of her gauntlets in their direction. Several explosive like projectiles suddenly erupted from some hidden portions of the guantlets between the knuckles of her index and middle fingers, hitting some of the Skull Warriors in the back and knocking them to the ground. The ones that were still standing turned around to face Yang, only to get them distracted long enough for Blake and Ruby to overpower them from behind as they fell to the ground, now completely motionless and in pieces from being slashed through the middle of their torsos.

By the time this had happened, Weiss had already managed to encase the remaining Skull Warriors that were firing upon her by freezing the lower halves of their undead bodies in a sheet of ice, also keeping their bows locked in place to an extent, before jumping up and briefly clicking Myrtenaster again as she then slashed through all three of them at once. Their eyes dimmed out, indicating that they were now dead once more and hopefully, for good. This now only left Tahu with both the Grimm and the unarmed Skull Warrior with the golden mask that was standing atop it. He hadn't considered using his element of fire yet, not wanting a stray burst to be strong to end up triggering the mask's powers or worse destroying it by complete accident.

Making a decision, he charged at the Grimm by letting out a mighty battle cry before taking a mighty leap high into the air and landing on the creature's head, struggling to keep his balance as he did so. The Skull Warrior then charged towards the unbalanced Toa, tackling him to the ground in front of and below them. Tahu grappled with the undead figure's arms as he fought back to overpower the undead warrior. Meanwhile from behind their cover point, Jaune and his group who had been observing the battle until this very moment felt that this was no longer the time for sitting around on the sidelines.

"We're going in," he said as he clasped ahold of the sword that he carried. Ren and Pyrrha nodded agreement, but before any of them could take a moment of action, they could see that their second female member had already brought out her weapon and was pointing it right in the direction of the Skull Warrior that was atop Tahu.

"Nora, wait!" called Ren.

But the girl by then had already fired a projectile from her weapon with a small heart like shape at the tip and leaving a trail of pink smoke behind. By the time Tahu and the Skull Warrior had noticed the oncoming shot, the Master of Fire took the opportunity to quickly break free from the brawl and roll to the side as the projectile suddenly struck the mask that the skeletal figure was wearing. Electricity began crackling through the body of the undead warrior, causing it to fall to the ground whilst the mask had a different reaction altogether. Strange energies began crackling around it as began to glow brightly before a bright flash suddenly engulfed a small portion of the academy entrance, blinding everyone present before the mask suddenly rose into the air and erupted into six small flashes that rocketed off in seperate directions into the distance.

By the time everyone had regained their line of sight, the only things that remained were the downed Skull Warrior and the Grimm that was still glaring fiercly in their direction. Tahu upon seeing that the strange gold mask was no longer present in his line of sight could only glare fiercely at Nora, upon remembering seeing that the earlier shot had come from her direction.

"Well... that wasn't supposed to happen," was all she could murmur whilst stifling a nervous laugh.

The Grimm then roared loudly, bringing everyone's attention back towards it as the creature alone was still a threat to the students within Beacon Academy and could still do some major damage if it was left unattended to. Then to the Master of Fire's surprise, it suddenly began rolling forwards right towards him as he quickly picked up his blades in an attempt to block, but the impact and force of the attack had sent him flying backwards into a nearby wall. As Tahu got back onto his feet, he began glowing in a fiery red aura as he saw the Grimm rolling back around for a second attempt. Using his blades, he channel a blaze of fire that erupted across the ground until it hit the rolling creature head on, but to his surprise, his own element was having very little effect on slowing it down.

Before the Grimm could run him over or knock him backwards again, several more projectiles from Nora's direction hit it from the side, causing it to roll past Tahu and around the entrance. Everyone from Team RWBY had to leap back to avoid being run over by the creature's rolling trail of destruction. The Master of Fire looked back at Nora to see that her weapon had changed from a launcher of some sort to a hammer with one end firing out the shots she made earlier. Although part of him was still infuriated from her earlier mishap in causing the mask to vanish from his grasp, he couldn't help but somewhat see that she was at least trying to make up for her unintentional mistake.

He didn't have time to dwell on that as he saw the Boarbatusk finally come to a stop right in front of him, preparing to charge at him from the front as evidence by its low, but fierce growl. As everyone from both RWBY and Jaune's team ran to come alongside the Master of Fire to aid him, he suddenly saw a faint purple glow eminating from underneath some cracks that were forming beneath it.

"Get back!" he called.

Everyone from both RWBY and Jaune's group didn't need to be told twice from the serious tone in Tahu's voice as they quickly leaped back from the Grimm upon noticing the purple glow from beneath it. The ground then briefly began to shake around them before several chunks of the earth beneath the Boarbatusk suddenly erupted, sending the darkened creature flying into the air before it hit the pavement on its back near the center of the crossroads, further away from the academy entrance. From the large hole that was in the place of the solid ground, emerged a black armoured hand and then what appeared to be a large silver hammer of some kind, covered in dirt as it it had been used for tunnel for some time as it dug into the edge.

Whilst everyone else remained tense as to who was this the new arrival to the battle, Tahu's gaze remained fixated on the edge of the hole, as if he had somehow already recognized whoever it was that was about to emerge from the ground. Then, from the hole emerged a figure with a very bulky appearance, the broad shoulders along with the large silver armoured pads that covered the top being an indicator to that. The armour covering the figure's arms was a mix between gold, black and purple and his chest armour was primarily black with several tribal like markings engraved on it, much like with the chest armour for Tahu and much like the Master of Fire, wore a gold mask of its own.

This mask also had several vents littered around both the sides and the forehead, but in different positions and the number had exceeded those that were present on Tahu's mask with an extra two being prominently present on either side of the mask. The indented part that would cover over the figure's mouth started rectangular from the bottom before being slightly curved as it came up to the space between the eyeholes. The figure turned its attention towards the Master of Fire, its bright yellowish eyes almost widening in surprise.

"Tahu...?" the broad figure spoke, his voice seeming much slower and somewhat more bold.

"Onua!" called Tahu as he rushed towards the edge of the hole. Briefly placing down his weapons, he took ahold of the Master of Earth's free hand and helped to haul him out of the solid ground. When he did, everyone else watching could now finally see how large that Onua was. His overall size, both in height and broadness practically dwarfed that of Tahu or any average adult human or faunus and the Master of Fire was only around the same height as Ozpin or at least, a little taller. Although his black feet seemed somewhat more bare than Tahu's more boot like feet, they still appeared to be somewhat metallic to an extent.

"Um... I'd hate to break up this reunion," said Ruby, briefly interrupting their conversation. "But shouldn't we get back to dealing with that Boarbatusk before..."

"... it self rights itself..." Yang finished up, upon seeing that Grimm had now managed to get back on its front and preparing to charge at them.

"Boarbatusk...?" Onua murmured.

"A Grimm," Tahu answered "Don't hesitate to take it down."

The Master of Earth nodded in response and turned around to face the Borbatusk as it then began rolling front on towards him. He pulled back his hammer and waited as the Grimm got closer and closer towards him. Just as Blake and Pyrrha were about to intervene, right at the perfect timing, Onua swung his weapon into the rolling Boarbatusk head on. The impact knocked the creature upwards into the air, giving both Ruby and Weiss the chance they needed to jump upwards and slice down the underside of the Grimm, causing it to shriek loudly in pain as it fell into the hole that the Toa had emerged from. To finish it off, the Master of Earth then swung down his hammer into the ground, causing it to shake violently as the hole then collapsed in on itself, burying the severely weakened Boarbatusk beneath hundreds of feet of solid earth.

A long silence fell shortly afterwards as everyone went up to the sealed hole to be certain that there was no way that the Grimm could unearth itself or could even climb back up for that matter. When several moments had passed however, they were now completely sure that the threat was now over. Everyone was safe with no injuries or anything similar of the sort to be accounted for. For Tahu however, it was a hollow victory as he turned his gaze upon Nora once again.

"So... are you still mad about that earlier shot?" she asked, smiling nervously in response.

"No matter..." the Master of Fire sighed, huffing under his breath briefly. "I will just have to find my own way back to Okoto for me and Onua."

"Tahu, where exactly are we?" asked Onua.

Before Tahu could answer the Master of Earth's question, a small cracking noise could be heard as a nearby statue behind the united groups suddenly began to fall apart before it crumbled into nothing but fragments of rock and dust. Whilst the students could only stare on in both nervousness and dismay at the destruction that had been caused, Onua could only feel somewhat embarassed from the overall result. He was however inwardly feeling thankful that Lewa was not presently with them at the time to comment or even ask beforehand if had he succeeded in the defeating the Grimm 'without breaking anything'.

"Well, it appears we have quite the mess on our hands," came a familiar voice from behind them.

Everyone looked forwards towards the front doors to see both Ozpin and a middle-aged woman step outside to assess the damage that had been caused in the midst of the fighting. She had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin ovular glasses. She had teal hanging earrings with a small bead identical to her earrings on her collar. The woman also wore a white long-sleeved suit that exposed part of her ches, and puffy sleeves that tightened near the wrist before spreading back out near her hands. Her lower body has a black skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and lighter black-brown stockings.

She had black boots with brown heels and a tattered cape that is purple inside and black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going , horizontally across her cape. Her gaze seemed somewhat stern, not even wavering as she finally looked upon Tahu and Onua, despite somewhat being surprised by their appearance. She had been informed of the Master of Fire's appearance around Beacon Academy and had been brought up to speed about him and the other Toa from Ozpin himself before the two hurried to the scene of the battle, only to find that it had already ended.

"So this is Tahu that you were telling me about?" she asked, turning her head to Ozpin.

"That is correct Glynda," the man replied as he looked over to see Onua for the first time. "And I see that you managed to find one of the other Toa. Or rather, he found you if this battle has any indicator."

"That's right," Tahu answered boldly "This is Onua, Master of Earth."

Onua looked at Ozpin and Glynda, unsure of what to make from the situation that he and Tahu were now in. All that he knew was that wherever he was now in was far away from Okoto and that they currently had no proper means of getting back to the island or knowing where the other Toa were. The beings that he could see around him and the Master of Fire were nothing like them or any of the inhabitants on Okoto, seeming more organic to him.

"Professor Ozpin," said Ruby, getting the man's attention towards her "We have some good news and... some bad news."

"What would you like to share then ?" he asked.

"The good news is that we managed to repell the skeleton army and Boarbatusk with Onua's help," Jaune answered "The bad news is..."

"I kinda blasted that strange looking mask," Nora interrupted "... by accident."

"So for now, there's no way of Tahu and Onua getting back to Okoto," Blake concluded.

Everyone remained silent as they all went over in their thoughts about how the battle had gone. Some felt that their victory was not a complete loss thanks to the defeat of their foes and that everyone within Beacon Academy was safe now that the looming threat was gone. Others felt sorry for the fact that the Toa that were with them had now lost their only chance of going back to the island they were supposed to protect and that finding another way to get there would be next to near impossible, even with some of Remnant's techonological advances as Ruby herself had pointed out earlier.

"I perfectly understand," Ozpin spoke out, bringing everyone's attention to him "Although today has been a hollow victory in the case of the Toa, we will do everything we can to ensure that they can return home safely. Until that time can come, if it does, we will be accomodating them here at Beacon Academy."

"So we will be staying here?" asked Onua.

"It would appear so," replied Glynda "Ozpin already told me that Tahu would still be unacqainted with the many dangers that Remnant holds and that staying here for the moment would give you a better understanding of the world that the two of you and presumably the other Toa wouldn't know beforehand."

"Very well then," spoke Tahu "Until we are able to return to Okoto, we'll oblige to your offer."

Ozpin kindly nodded in obligement with the Master of Fire reply before turning around to leave the entrance with Glynda following closely behind. Before she did so, she turned her attention over to both Team RWBY and Jaune's group.

"If you would be kind enough as to show our guests around the academy first," she spoke, a somewhat stern tone having been present in her voice.

"You can count on us for that," replied Ren.

Glynda then nodded in approval of his answer and entered the entrance hall of Beacon Academy through the front doors. This now left both the hunters and huntresses in training with the Toa outside, amongst the damage that had been caused throughout their previous battle. Before Onua could step forward, he was suddenly surprised as Nora appeared right before him in an instant. She seemed much more upbeat despite the small catastrophe with the golden mask that had occurred only minutes earlier.

"So Ozpin said you guys were Toa or something," she began whilst talking eccentrically quick, with a hint of excitement and enthusiasm to her voice "And that you were from this island of Okoto. Is that on Remnant? What exactly are those gold masks that you and Tahu wear? How exactly did you cause the ground to shake with that hammer of yours?"

Before the Master of Earth could even begin to reply to her bombardment of questions, Ren looked up to the Toa. Like his teammate, he shared some intrigue about the Toa and this Okoto that they came from.

"Forgive Nora for what happened and why she's like this," he said "She does mean well."

By the time Nora had finished asking her various questions towards Onua, Ruby came to her from alongside Tahu, grabbing her attention to them.

"We can fill you in as we show them around," she said.

Everyone else nodded in agreement as she and Jaune led their respective groups through the doors to the inside of Beacon Academy, ready to start their tour for the Masters of Fire and Earth. Tahu and Onua followed shortly afterwards as the larger of the two Toa slowly took great care in closing the doors behind him, not wanting to break them like he accidentally did to the statue earlier. Nora remained alongside them as they went throught the hallways, eager to learn more about the two and where they came from.

* * *

 **And there we go! In an effort to claim the mask that the Skull Warriors had in their possession, Tahu's attempt goes awry from a untimely shot by Nora, causing it to seperate into six glows that have now been scattered across the world of Remnant. Onua joins the fight from below and helps to turn the tide, but not before accidentally breaking the statue on Beacon Academy's campus in the result. As the two Toa now become acqainted in their new surroundings, what will become of the other four Toa? Stay tuned for next chapter as we catch up with Pohatu and whatever adventure the Master of Stone will find himself in. Feel free to share your thoughts and criticisms and I'll see you all next time. Until then!**

 ***If you're wondering about what song Nora was humming about earlier, I suggest looking to the 2015 Summer Commercial of BIONICLE and you may find your answer from the first few seconds.**


	3. Ambush in Glenn

**Hello once more my fellow readers and I kindly welcome you back to the latest chapter! Nothing much else to say other than I hope you enjoy what I have in store.**

* * *

A desolate city that lay in nothing more than ruins with both a dark and cold atmosphere to it. All of this was somewhat common ground to the Toa that had been walking amongst the deserted and wrecked buildings, in search of his own way out and any sign of life that he could find. But unlike the ruined city that he had walked through once before with the other five Toa beside him, this one felt even larger and seemed to be even more of a maze as he wandered through it. Most of the structures he walked past for the last hour or so had almost felt the same in some areas, but he could see some new things as he progressed along his journey, including what appeared to be the entrance to a dark tunnel to which he strayed away from immediately.

His armour consisted of a mix between brown and silver, with each of his arms cladded in a single colour of the two. The right arm which possessed solely brown armour had several white spikes sticking out of the cladding that covered the lower portion and a detailed armour piece on the portion covering his upper arm, as well as the brown armour on his upper legs. Just like a certain Toa of Fire, this Toa had silver boot like feet that made a small noise as he stepped across the empty roadway and his chest armour also possessed tribal like markings. The golden mask that he wore had a total of four vents, with two on each side of the lower edges, an inverted trapezium like shape indented into the forehead and an indented circle at the bottom of the mask, covering over where his mouth would be.

The Toa's expression through the eyeholes alone would be enough for anyone to tell that he was somewhat unnerved by the situation that he had now found himself in. Ever since he had regained consciousness and began to wander across the ruined city, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was being observed by someone or something. Whatever it was though, it felt rather... dark in a sense.

"Where in the name of Okoto have I gotten myself to?" he muttered in a gruff voice.

Before the Toa had time to ponder with his thoughts on any more of the subject, he could suddenly hear a rattle of stones from behind him. His gaze suddenly sharpened as he turned around to find the source of the noise, suddenly bringing out two of the weapons that he had stashed on his back in response. They were boomerang like tools, each with a set of turbines on the center of each half and the ends that weren't held in his hands were adorned with a neon bright green gem, much like the colour of his eyes and his entire right arm along with his lower legs underneath the armour he wore.

When he looked upon whoever it was the noise from just moments ago, the person that he now saw before him wasn't the kind of figure that he was expecting to come across. The human that had appeared before him had messy green hair along with what appeared to be opaque glasses that covered nearly all view of his brown eyes from the Toa. His attire appeared to be disheveled with his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He also wore a dark brown coat and what appeared to be some kind of helmet. The man's expression seemed very intrigued as he studied the Toa's features closely as he walked up towards him.

"Well, I must say that you certainly look different from anything else I've seen before," he spoke in a somewhat rapid tone "Given your metallic like looks, you wouldn't happen to be from Atlas?"

"Atlas?" the Toa pondered in confusion, mostly from being somewhat caught off guard by how fast his new arrival had been speaking at this very moment.

"Oh, so you don't happen to come from around there," the man replied eccentrically "Though I must ask, who or what are you?"

"Pohatu, Master of Stone," he answered as he eventually lowered his defensive like stance along with his weapons. "And you are...?"

"Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I am Doctor Oobleck, fully fledged huntsman and teacher at Beacon Academy. Your weapons and that golden mask you wear are certainly most intriguing if I do say so myself."

Pohatu simply stared at Oobleck, unsure of what to make from the huntsman's eccentric personality and the way that he spoke out at first. But from what he could make out from what he was saying, including the part where the man briefly assumed that he had come from this 'Atlas' as he had put it, the Toa could only assume that wherever he was for the moment, was either a part of Okoto that Nilkuu, the Protector of Stone or Ekimu the Mask Maker had not told him about beforehand or that he was somewhere far away from the island at this very point in time. Given how long he had been wandering across the ruined city for, he felt that now was the time to ask about his whereabouts for the moment.

"Where I am and what is this Atlas you spoke of earlier?" the Master of Stone asked, his gruff tone still remaining present in his voice.

"Well, you seem to be in a rather unfortunate spot of bother I'm afraid Pohatu," Oobleck answered, his voice still wild with energy "Where we are currently standing is Mountain Glenn, once an expansion to the city of Vale, named of course after the kingdom itself. But as you have already seen no doubt that it lies in ruins. The reason why was that it was completely overrun by Grimm and deserted, as a testament to one of Vale's greatest failures. As for your other question, Atlas is another one of the kingdoms of Remnant, much like Vale. I assumed you were from there because of your more metallic look."

As the huntsman finished his sentence, he and Pohatu could hear a sudden rumbling from the ground beneath them as cracks suddenly began to form underneath the Toa's silver feet. Instinctively, the two immediately leapt out of the way backwards, just in time for that segment of the abandoned roadway to collapse in on itself as a loud shirek sounded from the now present hole followed shortly by a hiss. Then the sound of rattling was heard as two large black claws, shaped like pincers with the top halves covered in white armour, emerged from the hole and clamped onto the edge as the rest of the creature it belonged to began to emerge. First was the head, armoured in white with ten red eyes and unique red markings.

Next, the legs revealed themselves as thin and somewhat spindly, giving off an almost eeriely familiar vibe to the Master of of Stone before the armoured back of the creature along with its long tail, revealed itself from the dark crevace that it had crawled out of. The long tail was primarily black, with the front view being covered up by more white armour and attached at the end was a sharp, but shiny golden curved point. Overall from what could be seen, this creature in particular seemed to bear some great resemblance to some 'certain' foes in the graveyard of the Ancient City on Okoto when Pohatu had confronted them before and now, he would have to fight this sort of hostile threat again.

"Why did it have to be a Scorpio...?!" he groaned under his breath " _Let alone, one that's almost three times the size of the last two._ "

"Well now you see, that is a Grimm," Oobleck replied "Or a Death Stalker to be more precise. I can see why you would compare this to a scorpi..."

He quickly cut his speech short as he and Pohatu suddenly jumped back to avoid being smacked by the Death Stalker's tail as the two of them stared down the Grimm that had now attacked them. It hissed at both the Toa and the hunter as Oobleck then brought out from his coat what appeared to look like a thermos of some kind. As the Master of Stone had his boomerang like weapons drawn out, he couldn't help but glance at the object, wondering how Oobleck was planning to use that as an offensive weapon to their defence. Needless to say in precisely two seconds, Pohatu had gotten his answer.

The thermos suddenly extended in length, almost transforming itself into some sort of staff with the bulk of the object remaining as it was near the very top of the weapon. A small, but noticable ember lit the top end of the staff before burning out as the hunter came alongside the Master of Stone, prepared to take on their common foe at this point in time. Pohatu couldn't help but take note of the brief flame that he saw, wondering if Oobleck could wield the element of fire much like a certain Toa that he knew about. That question would have to wait however as even the Master of Stone knew that there were more pressing issues for them to deal with at this very moment.

The Death Stalker let out a loud shriek as it thrust its tail towards the two of them, prompting them to jump out of the way in seperate directions to avoid the 'stinger' that was thrust right into the ground from where they were previously standing. Pohatu then threw out one his boomerangs as he leaped back to dodge being caught by the Grimm's right pincer. His weapon struck the armour covering over the top of the creature's main body before returning to him, but the impact had little effect in damaging the cladding or the Grimm encased inside of it. Immediately, Oobleck pointed his weapon towards the tail of the Death Stalker, unleashing a barrage of fiery spheres in the process.

The Grimm in response used its left pincer to deflect some of the bullets whilst the remaining few struck the portion of the tail that was housing the gold tipped stinger. In retaliation, the creature immediately thrust down its tail towards the hunter as he immediately leapt to his left before jumping back once more to avoid being caught in its left pincer. Pohatu ran towards Oobleck in an attempt to regroup with him, but the Death Stalker immediately turned its attention upon the Toa and lashed its tail right into him, knocking him backwards into the girder of a nearby wrecked building. The Master of Stone quickly leaped back onto his feet and threw his boomerangs a little forwards until they landed perfectly on the ground in front of him.

He then leaped into the air and landed his feet right onto the center of his weapons, activating their turbines the moment they touched. Clenching one of his silver fists tightly, a whirlwind of sand and dust suddenly erupted from beneath his feet and rose up to meet with his upper body to allow some movement. Pohatu then began hovering as a result of the 'sandstorm' that he had just summoned, having attracted more sand and dust from the city ruins around him to build up the strength of the whirlwind using the power of his golden mask. He flew towards the Death Stalker to meet it head on, the sight of the Toa's current state having somewhat left Oobleck in a bit of awe, but mostly intrigue.

The Master of Stone then pulled out his final weapon from behind his back, appearing to look like some sort of large dagger as he gripped it tightly with his left hand and stared on into the ten eyes that the scorpion-like Grimm possessed. The creature shrieked loudly in response as it thrust its tail towards Pohatu who simply weaved to the right, carrying his whirlwind with him. Pulling it back, the Death Stalker then tried to do so again only for him to hold it at bay with his dagger as he struggled to keep the gold stinger back. The Grimm then retracted its tail and was about to attempt another strike at him, only for the tail to come under fire from Oobleck as he continued to fire more spheres of flames at the creature.

"Pohatu, try to dislodge the stinger from its tail!" he called.

The Master of Stone took the opportunity to heed this advice from the hunter and quickly used his whirlwind to gain more height before leaping out from it and onto the Death Stalker's tail, grabbing ahold of it as the turbines on his boomerangs died down, causing the earlier whirlwind to disappate. The Grimm shrieked loudly as it swung its tail around wildly in an attempt to shake off the Toa. Pohatu struggled to keep his grip on the tail as he tried to inch forwards towards the stinger. Eventually, he made it towards the end of the tail as Oobleck fired more fiery projectiles at the Grimm's face to keep it distracted, despite having little effect in damaging it.

Gripping the dagger that he held tightly in his left hand, Pohatu raised his arm upwards before thrusting his weapon straight into the end of the tail that had the stinger connected to the limb. Sensing the pain that it now felt, the Death Stalker let out a loud shriek as it began thrashing erractically once again, this time managing to throw the Toa off and into a nearby pile of rubble, dislodging the boomerangs that he had attached to his feet. The dagger however remained firmly stuck in the Grimm's tail as it attempted to also shake it off its limb. Eventually after much effort, it succeeded by thrusting its tail backwards, but not before the stinger had fallen out from the motion and dropped right into the armour covering its head, piercing it in the result.

As the Death Stalker shrieked even louder, Pohatu had managed to get back onto his feet and run back towards Oobleck, picking up his boomerangs on the way as he did so. Surveying what was in front of them, although he had managed to dislodge the stinger to make things a little easier for them, they still had the claws to contend with, having been armoured over much like the front of the creature's tail along with the head and the top of the body. Given that his boomerangs already had little effect in piercing the armour and that the stinger was already firmly inside the portion that covered the Grimm's body, attempting to retrieve it and wedge it back out to fight with it would prove to be in vain. Thinking over his options and what he saw from Oobleck's earlier shots, he suddenly recalled some certain words that Ekimu had told him about once before.

" _United, the elements hold the power to defeat evil._ "

"I wonder..."

"Pohatu?" murmured Oobleck.

"Oobleck... how hot can the fire in your weapon burn at?" the Master of Stone asked.

"Enough to burn through some metals," the hunter answered, before suddenly realizing what the Toa had planned. "I'll await your signal."

Pohatu nodded in agreement as he then proceeded to run around the Death Stalker, the Grimm rotating in an attempt to meet the Master of Stone head on. Before it could have a chance to thrust one of its claws at the Toa, Oobleck fired more projectiles near the eyes on the creature's right, bringing its attention back over to him. This was the distraction that Pohahu needed as he eventually came up behind the Grimm and held out his boomerangs together, bringing their turbines to meet with one another as they began to spin once again. As this was happened, a brown aura surrounded the Master of Stone as his golden mask began to emit a somewhat bright glow, briefly catching Oobleck's attention.

Then as molecules of sand and dust from his surroundings began to gather around towards him, he focused the active turbines of his boomerangs towards the ground as the gathered clumps of sand and dust were unleashed like a storm towards the Death Stalker, engulfing it in an instant. As the Grimm shrieked amongst the storm that it was now stranded in, Pohatu walked around back towards Oobleck whilst keepings his attack focused on the creature. Eventually, he came up alongside the hunter who couldn't help but somewhat remain in awe as to the spectacle he was beholding at this very moment. A nudge from Pohatu's right shoulder armour was more than enough to make him snap out of his distracted gaze as his attention was brought upon the Toa.

Holding out his weapon in front, Oobleck unleashed a blaze of fire that traveled across the Master of Stone's 'sandstorm', the high temperatures eventually causing it to turn into a clear like substance as the flames had traveled across each grain of sand. Moving around the trapped Death Stalker, the hunter eventually covered it from tail to foot in that same clear substance which immediately solidified the moment that he had shut off the flames from the tip of his weapon, briefly blowing out the last remaining ember from the tip as he did so and as the cold air around them eventually came into contact with said substance. When the remaining dust eventually settled, they could see that the Grimm was now completely motionless, encased inside whatever substance that the two of them had managed to create from combining their 'elements'. The Toa panted for a brief moment, having nearly been exhausted from having to create and maintain a sandstorm that large.

"How fascinating indeed," Oobleck proclaimed eccentrically "It appears that we have managed to successfully imprison this Death Stalker in a block of glass. With any luck, it should completely suffocate from the lack of air in there."

"Glass?" Pohatu asked, having not been familiar with the man-made material at all.

"Due to your apparent control over sand, despite being Master of Stone," the hunter expained "Combined with the high temperature of my thermos' fire, the molecules you summoned in that storm were superheated to create glass. Though how you haven't heard of this material already is something that does puzzle me and bringing the flame of my weapon up to the necessary requirement has overheated it."

"Either way," the Master of Stone murmured as he gazed all around him "If we don't want to deal with more of those 'Grimm' as you put them, we best leave this ruined city immediately before they find us."

"A profound point indeed Pohatu," he replied "I have a transport near the edge of the ruins to take us out of Mountain Glenn. Seeing as you're unfamiliar with Vale or Remnant in that regard, you can come along if you want. Perhaps you could tell me more about yourself when we get there."

Pohatu nodded in agreement as he first walked over to the left hand side of the glass prison to retrieve his dagger that the Death Stalker had thrown off during the battle before joining Oobleck as the two of them walked through the ruins to reach the hunter's transport. As they walked forwards for a few seconds or so, the Toa of Stone suddenly stopped and glanced behind him, as if he was somehow aware that someone or something was observing him. Gazing around behind him for a few more moments, he eventually turned around and continued to follow Oobleck throughout the city ruins, his stern gaze having not left his eyes.

From behind the corner of a nearby ruined building, a figure draped in a white cape glanced on at both the Master of Stone and the hunter as they walked through Mountain Glenn. A white mask covered over most of his face with several strange red patterns engraved into it, almost exactly like that of a mask that a Grimm would wear over their head or face. Although his eyes were obscured from outside view, the figure's facial expression through his lips seemed like a mix between confusion and intrigue. After taking one last glance at the two of them, he left the cover of the building and walked off in the opposite direction, feeling it was necessary to report this to whoever had employed him. A hint of that was the beast head with several scratches covered over it in the same shade of red as the markings on his mask.

* * *

Eventually, after a few minutes of walking and just barely avoiding coming into contact with a horde of Beowolves on the way back, Pohatu and Oobleck had arrived over to the landing spot of the transport that the hunter had briefly mentioned earlier. It appeared to be some sort of large vehicle with large cylinder like engines attached onto the ends of both wings, a set of leg like struts that had kept it firmly on the solid ground that it was resting upon and what appeared to be two door like structures on both sides, currently closed up for the moment. The craft's canopy had a large glass window covering over the cockpit and beneath it were the opened up hatches that the frontal landing struts emerged from. At the back lay a large fin on the 'tail' of the craft with two smaller fins protuding from either side.

Although Pohatu had remained completely silent throughout the whole trek to reach this destination that Oobleck had in mind, even he couldn't help but somewhat stare at the vehicle in front of him in wonder. As far as he was even aware from whatever memories he had left, he had never come across any form of transportation on Okoto or any past life that he could have had before arriving on the island. The Toa then approached the craft, slowly following behind Oobleck as he did so in order to gain a better view of it. The hunter stopped a few feet away from the outer shell of the vehicle, prompting for the Master of Stone to do so as well. The hatch from the side that they were standing from opened up as a ramp of some sort suddenly extended from the edge and stopped right in front of their feet.

"After you, Master of Stone," Oobleck spoke, kindly gesturing for him to be the first to walk aboard.

Pohatu simply stared at the ramp in front of his feet before slowly walking up it towards the open hatch of the craft, followed closely by the hunter that was behind him. By the time the two of them had entered inside the open hold, the ramp suddenly retracted into the vehicle and the door closed in, sealing both Oobleck and the Toa inside of the craft. Then, the Master of Stone could hear a whirring noise as he glanced to either side of the room. Unbeknowst to him, the engines that were stationed on the wings rotated so that the furthest ends were pointing towards the ground as the craft began to ascend into the air, the landing struts retracting back inside followed by the hatches closing in on them.

Once the vehicle was hovering several feet in the air, the engines rotated back to their original position before they suddenly emitted a streak of light from the back, moving the craft forwards through the air until it eventually ascended high into the clouds. Back inside, Pohatu walked through the hold that he was in until he opened up the door that was leading to the cockpit. He could then see from the windows in that space that the craft was indeed soaring through the air as Oobleck came alongside him.

"I take it that you've never come across transport, much less aerial vehicles yourself?" the hunter asked.

"No," the Master of Stone answered, his gruff tone remaining as it was.

"Well then, it would be my pleasure to welcome you aboard this Bullhead," Oobleck replied "One of the many aerial transports that Remnant has to offer. With any luck, we should be over to Beacon Academy in no time at all."

Pohatu simply looked over at the pilot who had remained at the controls since the Bullhead had taken off from the ground. Then he turned around and followed Oobleck back to the cargo hold to simply wait there until they had arrived at their destination, this Beacon Academy that he had mentioned earlier. Once they were back in the hold, the hunter faced the Toa of Stone once more.

"Now that we have a little while before we get to Beacon Academy," he spoke in his eccentric tone once more "Perhaps you would be willing to share some information about yourself? Like who exactly are you, where you come from and how you ended up in Mountain Glenn by yourself."

The Master of Stone then proceeded to tell Oobleck about everything he had been through up to this point in time, starting from his arrival on Okoto, coming across the Protector of Stone, Nilkuu and the villagers from the Region of Stone to going on his quest to claim his golden mask and the meeting the other five Toa to defeat the evil on the island and awaken Ekimu the Mask Maker. Pohatu had stated the names of his comrades along with their respective elements to make things more clear to the hunter along with how he came to Mountain Glenn because of a certain golden mask. By the time he had finished his story, he glanced closely at Oobleck in order to make sure he would listen as to what he had to say.

"Oobleck, what exactly is Remnant?" he asked.

"Remnant is the world that we humans, faunus and Grimm have lived on for years," the hunter answered "Unfortunately if you were wondering, the island of Okoto you speak of does not exist within this world. Back in days of old, the world our ancestors lived in was a much more dark and foreboding place with practically nothing but Grimm breathing down our necks until we discovered the substance known as Dust. Dust as you may ask this moment is the source of power throughout Remnant and its four kingdoms, recognizable in both powdered and crystal form and the colours they possess, artifical or natural, represent the elemental power that a certain form will possess. Of course as you have told me, you and the other five Toa do not require Dust to access your elemental powers, but perhaps if we could find a form that could represent Stone, I would be willing to let you try it out in tandem."

The simple thought of that had intrigued Pohatu, now causing him to think about the many additional elements that he could possibly wield from the power of Dust in addition to the power of Stone that he had already possessed. At the same time though, he could only think about what the other Toa and Ekimu were currently doing if they were anywhere on Remnant and if they were even alright from hopefully not being caught up in any brawls from Grimm like him or much worse.

"Doctor Oobleck," the pilot from the cockpit spoke "We'll be approaching Beacon Academy in approximately 5 minutes."

"That is good to hear," Oobleck replied before he then looked back at the Toa "Ozpin will certainly be intrigued to learn about you once we meet with him there."

Pohatu said nothing in response, but nodded to voice his agreement with the way things were going. All that he knew was that from his situation alone, he wasn't going to make it back to Okoto, let alone the Region of Stone any time from now.

"Wait a second..." the pilot suddenly murmured, as he suddenly noticed a strange blip on his radar. "Oobleck, I'm picking up something strange."

"What is it?" asked the hunter.

"The radar appears to be picking up... someone or something flying just beneath us!" he exclaimed.

Pohatu simply glanced at the radar that was in front of the pilot as the large red blip that was displayed on it suddenly grew larger and larger until it stopped moving, coming to a steady flight path alongside the craft. Everyone looked out of the cockpit window to their left to see an armoured figure, clad in green, orangish yellow and silver armour gliding beside the Bullhead. The figure held two swords in his silver hands pointing backwards and attached to his lower arms were what appeared to be larger blades with active turbines that were keeping him flying through the air. The most striking feature about the figure however was the golden mask that he was wearing. It had six vents, two located on each side and on the forehead, a round open gap on each side of the mask and across the front with the exception of the eyeholes, were several horizontal grooves that seemed to almost resemble multiple layers.

"It's Lewa!" Pohatu called, upon recognizing the Master of Jungle immediately. The airbourne Toa simply gazed towards the cockpit, his eyes almost widening with surprise upon seeing the Master of Stone aboard the Bullhead. At this point, Oobleck quickly rushed back into the hold of the craft and suddenly opened up the left door, catching the Toa's attention as he flew back towards the open hatch, remaining level with it.

"Climb aboard!" the hunter called "Pohatu's here with us!"

Lewa didn't have to be told twice as he used his turbines to boost himself into the Bullhead's hold before landing gracefully on his silver feet, the door that allowed him entry onto the aircraft closing up shortly afterwards. Pohatu then walked into the hold to meet and reunite with the Master of Jungle, his gaze remaining as stern as ever which for some reason seemed to somewhat amuse the new arrival.

"So Pohatu, what did I miss?" he asked, a hint of snarkiness having been present in his voice.

"Nothing you would want to know about," the Master of Stone replied "Where have you been?"

"Flying for miles across wherever we are now," Lewa answered "Unless Okoto has somehow changed a lot since I woke up, I doubt we're anywhere near it."

"You have that part covered already," Pohatu spoke "We're on Remnant or the Kingdom of Vale as Oobleck has put it and if you're here..."

"Then it would be likely to assume that the remaining four Toa may be on Remnant as well," Oobleck concluded, interrupting the Toa of Stone's speech. "For now, the sooner we get back to Beacon Academy, the sooner we can acqaint you two with the dangers of this world and make a start on your search."

The Master of Stone remained silent, though Lewa could easily tell through the expression in his yellowish eyes that he agreed with the hunter's statement. For the moment, he could only wonder as to how much Pohatu had already learned about this 'Remnant' prior to reuniting with him and everything that he needed to catch up on.

* * *

 **And there we go! After having to confront his hatred of 'Scorpios' again, Pohatu manages to collabrate effectively with Oobleck to imprison a Death Stalker in a block of glass, overheating the hunter's weapon in the process. On their way back to Beacon Academy to meet with Ozpin, unaware that he has already met both Tahu and Onua, Lewa joins them to catch up on their current situation. What will become of the Toa when they arrive at Beacon? Find out on the next chapter of Masters of Remnant as Lewa becomes acqainted to the Toa's new surroundings. Feel free to favourite and/or follow and please share your thoughts/critiques in the reviews and I'll see you again next chapter. Until then!**


	4. Foes and Friendships

**Hello again everyone and I welcome you back to the latest installment of Masters of Remnant. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The Bullhead hovered through the air as the jet engines on its wings rotated backwards to prepare the craft for landing. The engines ignited to slow the craft on its descent to the edge of what was the campus to Beacon Academy, evidenced by the tower that was in the distance from where it was coming in from. As it lowered to the ground, the landing struts extended from both the front and the back of the underbelly. When the Bullhead had eventually settled down onto the ground beneath it, the engines on the wings rotated back to their original positions as the doors on both sides of the hold opened up, a ramp extending outwards from each side allowing Lewa, Oobleck and Pohatu to step outside and onto the firm pavement that led towards their destination.

The three of them looked on towards the large tower that lay behind the main building that represented Beacon Academy, the two Toa remaining curious as to what it was and what they would encounter inside the walls of the institute. As Oobleck led the way towards the front doors, Lewa placed the silver swords he had carried on his back in an x like formation before following the hunter along with Pohatu. When they approached the front entrance, they could see several construction workers that had been attending to the damage that had been dealt in the previous skirmish that had occurred there. One of them was busy attending to the statue that had been accidentally destroyed by Onua when he had buried the Boarbatusk and two more were busy covering over the sealed hole that the Master of Earth had previously emerged from.

Oobleck and the Toa eventually entered Beacon Academy itself through the front doors and much like earlier on, unbeknowst to the three of them, several of the students that were present in the entrance hall had turned their attention upon both Lewa and Pohatu, their expressions showing hints of curiousity as some of them began talking amongst themselves. The Master of Stone gazed upon the crowd after hearing them speak, his serious expression having turned some of the students' attention away from him in particular.

"Are they more of these 'Toa' RWBY and JPNR were going on about?" one student pondered in almost a whisper.

"Their gold masks definitely fits them in that category alright," another murmured.

"So we're not the only ones here," Pohatu interrupted, having come up to the student that had just been talking at this very moment. "Who else is here?"

"Um... There was this tall red figure and this hulking black armoured guy that were with two of Beacon's teams," he answered "I think Tahu and Onua were their names if I heard right..."

"Interesting," Oobleck spoke, his eccentric tone having returned back to him as he was alongside the Master of Stone and the student that he had been talking to. "So it would seem that Ozpin must have already acqainted himself with two of the other Toa."

"So, that leaves only Gali and Kopaka unaccounted for," Pohatu concluded.

"Well then, I suppose we should catch up with them and see what they've gotten themselves into," Lewa suggested, his snark from earlier on the Bullhead having returned back to his tone.

The Master of Stone nodded in agreement as the two of them then followed Oobleck towards one of the hallways in search of both Teams RWBY and JPNR and the other two Toa. Needless to say, the moment they had chosen to take a right turn down the corridor, did they immediately come across the people with Tahu and Onua just behind them as both groups immediately came to a halt.

"Lewa, Pohatu," the Master of Fire spoke boldly "Where have you been? And who's this?"

"That's Doctor Oobleck," Ruby explained, clarifying the hunter's presence for the Toa "He's one of our lecturers at Beacon, teaching us in history."

"Thank you for properly addressing me, Ruby, though I assume from these two Toa that you've learned everything about how they've come to be on Remnant," Oobleck replied, his fast and eccentric tone having caught both the Masters of Fire and Earth respectively off-guard having come across him for the first time. Jaune briefly leaned over towards the left side of Onua's golden mask, as if he was trying to whisper a point about the hunter and lecturer's tone to the Toa.

"You may want to actually try to listen to what he's saying," he murmured "Word to the wise."

"I see..." Onua replied slowly as he looked to Oobleck. "Ozpin and Glynda said that they would make accomendations for us to stay at Beacon until we can return to Okoto. And we've fended off a Grimm along with some Skull Warriors."

"Without breaking anything?" Lewa asked with a hint sarcasm. Before the Master of Earth could reply nervously, Blake stepped in front of him.

"Let's not discuss about the collateral damage..." she interrupted as she along with the others then looked to Pohatu.

"So you two are the Masters of Stone and Jungle?" asked Weiss.

"Yes," Pohatu answered rather bluntly "We appreciate your offer in allowing us to stay at the Academy."

"I almost had that mask which brought us here in my grasp," Tahu spoke "But a stray shot had caused it to vanish again."

"Then there is no way back," the Master of Stone muttered.

"Well then, I suppose I should be looking for Ozpin to report upon my findings," said Oobleck "For the moment, I'd advise staying around the teams that are with you. They already have some common knowledge of Vale that you may be unfamiliar with. Until we see each other again."

Everyone present nodded in agreement as the hunter then left down the corridor to look for both Ozpin and Glynda so that he could report his finding of both Lewa and Pohatu to them. When he had eventually left the vicinity of the Toa and the two teams, all seemed quiet for the moment with the exception of the other students present in the hallway continuing on with their chatter from earlier. Before any of them could decide on what they should do for the time being, they could suddenly hear a small cry of pain from near where they were.

"Let go of me!"

"That sounded like Velvet!" gasped Pyrrha.

"We'd better go and see what has happened," murmured Yang.

The others nodded in agreement as both Teams RWBY and JPNR led the way around more of Beacon Academy's corridors for the Toa so that they wouldn't get lost, ignoring some of the confused glances thrown their way by the various students that they passed by. Eventually through a set of doors at the end of their rush, they entered into a large room that appeared to resemble a glass-domed amphitheater with raised bleachers arranged in a circle around a circular stage at the far end that has a tall, ornate backdrop with blue lights. The groups were currently standing within the large open part of the room, looking on towards the stage to see what exactly had happened.

On the raised platform, a tall male with burnt-orange hair that is combed backwards with a slight peak at the front, and indigo eyes. He bore silver-gray armour with gold trim and the chestplate sported a bird with its wings outstretched. Underneath the armour, he wore a black shirt with red trimmings and black pants with a red belt tied around his waist. His grip was held onto what appeared to be tall bunny like ears which sprouted from the brown hair of a shorter female. The Toa could only immediately assume that this was Velvet that Pyrrha had mentioned earlier, evidenced by her terrified and pained expression from being held in the air by the boy's crushing grip on her ears.

"Who is that?" Onua asked.

"Cardin Winchester," Blake muttered in a somewhat seething tone.

"One of the nastiest guys around Beacon Academy," Jaune explained "Believe me, I happen to know."

"I still would have gone with breaking his legs," Nora spoke.

This had only resulted in confusion of the four Toa and a sweatdrop from the rest of the group with the exception of Weiss. Upon seeing them, Cardin immediately turned his attention, partially from hearing the leader of Team JPNR speak out earlier at this very moment. As he raised his firm grip on Velvet even higher, he could only stare upon the Toa that were present with them.

"Well Jaune, no long time no see," he spoke in a somewhat mocking tone "I'm glad you could join us in my little get-together with 'Bunny-ears' over here. And it seems you brought quite the crowd of the different sort."

"Put her down now!" Onua declared, a hint of anger present in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he replied "I don't take orders from anyone who isn't completely human 'metal man'. Besides, I already heard whispers around the academy that we would get some... strange guests."

Taking Cardin's last rude remark as an offense, Tahu angrily growled as he suddenly drew out his silver blades from behind his back, pointing them right in the direction of the bully whilst his body radiated in a fiery red aura due to the power of his golden mask. Whilst the boy smirked sinisterly in response, Ren suddenly stepped in front of the Master of Fire in an attempt to try and reason with him.

"Hold on a minute Tahu!" he called "We can't just start up a fight in here! You could get us all in serious trouble!"

"Then I suggest you stand clear!" the Toa replied.

"If I were you, I'd listen to your little friend," Cardin remarked "I don't care how many of you there are, but I can assure the four of you that our little meeting will not end without a few bruises and dents." He then suddenly stared closely at the group, noticing that something was odd. "Wait... one's missing."

Whilst Tahu could only ponder in confusion, everyone else looked to the side to see that Lewa was suddenly absent from the group. The teams and the other Toa tried to look around for the Master of Jungle's presence, much like Cardin whose grip had remained firm on Velvet's ears. Suddenly, a familiar silver blade fell down from above, prompting him to drop the faunus student and leap backwards in both shock and surprise as he then suddenly looked up. There, he could see Lewa hovering in the air from the turbines on the blades that were attached to his lower arms. The Toa landed on the stage, taking up a brief stance on his silver feet before using his free hand to help up Velvet back to her feet.

"T... Thank you," she said nervously.

"Don't mention it," the Master of Jungle replied "You may want to stand clear."

"R... Right."

As Velvet left the stage to come and join both RWBY and JPNR along with the other Toa, Cardin simply glared towards Lewa as he approached the portion where one of his silver blades had struck the floor and pulled it out. The Master of Jungle then looked towards the bully, a mischievous glint having been present in his yellowish eyes at this very moment, a glint that seemed to somewhat tick off the boy. He reached behind his back and pulled out what appeared to be a large black mace with the flanges being extended outwards and in the center lay a red crystal of some sort.

"You're going down," he hissed, before he bellowed a loud battle cry and charged towards the Toa.

Lewa smugly leaped a step backwards to avoid being hit by a wild swing from Cardin's mace, then to the side to dodge another attack, and another. Repeatedly without much effort, the Master of Jungle was somewhat enjoying this game of cat and mouse as he continued to make no offensive manuever whilst Cardin, despite his overwhelming strength was seemingly having trouble trying to land even a single hit, some of his misses having landed the mace into the stage floor, occasionally causing a dent from the force of the swings. He growled as he then picked up speed, trying so much as to even land a decent hit on the armour to shake the Toa off balance, but it was to no avail as the two eventually stopped and faced each other on opposite ends.

"I must say, have you been taking lessons from Kopaka?" Lewa teased tauntingly.

"I'm just getting warmed up, 'metal man'," Cardin spat before he then whistled using both of his fingers.

Suddenly, three more male figures, all at least a little shorter than the bully had leaped up from behind the stage and surrounded the Master of Jungle all at once, drawing out their weapons and pointing them right at him. The first figure had a shaved head with a light-green mohawk on the top of it and wore a hoodie with the sleeves cut off, and two bracers on his arms extending from the wrist to just below the elbow. His weapon of choice was a pair of short, curved daggers with a revolving chamber or other cylindrical mechanism built into the hilts. The chambers appeared to contain several differently colored components, in a configuration that was somewhat reminiscent of Weiss' own weapon, Myrtenaster.

The second figure had light-brown hair that was combed to the left. He seemed to keep his eyes nearly closed, at a very noticeable squint and wore tan-coloured armour with a belt that bore a dove on its buckle. He also had vambraces on his arms that were the same colour as the rest of his armour and underneath said armour, he wore a black shirt and black pants with a black scarf around his neck. This figure's weapon was a sword that had a revolver mechanism and a barrel of some sort that was built into the blade, hinting at the fact that he could also shoot projectiles from it.

The third figure had blue eyes and long, combed back, dark blue hair. He wore dark gray armour with light gray edges, as well as vambraces of the same style. Underneath his armour, he had a black, long-sleeved V-neck shirt and black pants. His weapon was a long halberd with a large blade attached to the end of the pole along with what appeared to be a firing shaft of some sort and a barrel built into said pole, indicating that much like the second figure's sword, it could also be used outside of melee combat. None of this seemed to faze Lewa for the moment as he observed each and every one of his opponents whilst Cardin simply smirked.

"Knock his lights out," he spoke, a commanding like tone present in his sinister voice.

The three figures nodded in agreement and raised their weapons above their heads, preparing to strike. The Master of Jungle then suddenly threw the two silver blades that he carried into the air along with the two larger blades on the back of his lower arms as they suddenly joined together to form two large axe like weapons as they then fell back into his silver metallic like hands. As Cardin's assistants were then about to strike, Lewa activated the turbines on the larger blades that formed the top of his new 'axes' and spun around in circles. His weapons traded blows with the boys' own and the speed of both his spin and the turbines in his axes had suddenly stirred up a gale of wind that knocked all three of them to the stage floor on their backs and their weapons far out of their reach.

Seeing that his 'lackeys' had just gotten their reputation handed to them, Cardin could only growl as Lewa stopped spinning and turned around to face the bully once again, his mischievous glint having not left his eyes even once. Infuriated, he let out a mighty roar as he charged towards the Master of Jungle once again as he raised his mace above his head. Before he could strike though, he suddenly felt the weapon being tugged out of his hands as he suddenly saw that one of Pohatu's boomerangs had struck it, completely disarming the bully from harming Lewa any further. The boomerang, carrying Cardin's mace then struck the ornate wall at the far end of the stage, keeping his weapon pinned to the wall.

Realizing that he was out of options, Cardin could only glare towards Pohatu who still had his other boomerang drawn at the ready, as did Tahu with his blades from earlier. Everyone from both RWBY and JPNR along with Velvet could only look on at the two, seeing that they were prepared to intervene any further if the moment was necessary at this point in time. A point that was somewhat justifiable since Cardin had called upon outside assistance in an attempt to overpower Lewa and from the expressions of the Masters of Stone and Fire were enough for them and even Onua to tell that they would not stand for underhanded tactics being used against their fellow Toa.

"Cardin, you better call this one off if we want to avoid any more trouble," Jaune spoke.

Begrudgingly, Cardin could only nod in agreement to surrender the fight as his associates eventually regained consciousness. Pohatu then came up to the stage and dug his boomerang from out of the wall before handing the mace back to the bully, keeping his fierce glare upon him as he did so. The boy simply snatched the weapon out of the Toa's hands and placed it on his back from the position of where he had drawn it.

"This time, I will let you all go," he spat "But the next time we clash, you Toa as you call yourselves, will not be so lucky."

He then turned to his associates who put away their weapons and quickly followed suite, leaving the amphitheater past the other Toa, Velvet and both RWBY and JPNR, the teams of whom along with Tahu and Onua kept a stern gaze upon them as they eventually left through the doors. As Lewa eventually joined the others, Yang was the first to speak up.

"For once, I'd say Cardin's right to consider you lucky," she spoke "If Glynda had caught you two brawling, let alone with injuries to each other, who knows what could have happened."

"But I didn't injure any of them now, did I?" Lewa asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone as he reattached his larger blades back onto his lower arms.

"Yang does have a point," Weiss interjected "Aside from tarnishing your reputation as heroes from another world, you could have severed Beacon's trust with all of the Toa."

"I agree," Onua replied "We should be thankful we even have somewhere to stay amongst our problem right now."

"Yeah, but you have to admit, the fact that Lewa can combine his weapons is actually pretty cool," murmured Ruby.

"Hold up..." Ren interrupted as he looked over to Lewa "Tahu and Onua said you were Master of Jungle, yet you seem to have control over air itself."

"But of course," the Master of Jungle smugly responded "I also have the ability to have control over plant life because of my golden mask of power."

Everyone else with the exception of the other Toa could only stare at Lewa, having not expected him to have two abilities that were natural to him, even though his element was alledgedly Jungle on its own. All of them had no idea that he would be capable of both feats, let alone at almost the same time whilst in the middle of combat, though his lack of use in plant control was justifiable due to the face that they were within the buildings of Beacon Academy. After the long drawn out silence had passed over, Tahu had finally chosen to break the silence.

"In that matter," he boldly spoke "We should seek out Ozpin at this moment."

"That I can agree," Pohatu replied "He may be able to help us find the other Toa."

"That's right!" Nora exclaimed in excitement "You said there were six of you! What are the other two like?!"

"Well, perhaps you can find out soon enough," Lewa spoke as he stashed his silver blades behind his back.

Everyone nodded in agreement as they all left for Ozpin's office, looking to see if he had hopefully found any clues as to the whereabouts of both Gali and Kopaka, the strange golden mask that had brought them and the Skull Warrior army to Remnant and maybe any sign of returning back to Okoto without any further trouble. After Velvet had left the groups in a different direction down the corridor, everyone from RWBY and JPNR knew deep down that this was not going to be an easy task for the four Toa that were currently staying with them, having known that they were lucky to have all ended up in the kingdom of Vale, but who was to say their missing comrades were safe, considering that they could be anywhere.

For all they knew, the remaining two Toa could be in a city they knew nothing about, a completely different kingdom entirely, a scorching hot wasteland, a vast expanse of forest, underground or even being overrun and outnumbered by Grimm at this very instance. What the answer was to those thoughts, no one knew. At least, for the moment that was currently passing by with every second.

* * *

In the city of the Vale, the capital that was named after the kingdom, one of the remaining two Toa had been walking through the streets for many hours. Her presence had caused some of the people and faunus that were around her to simply stare at her figure, mainly because much like the other Toa, her features were more metallic compared to that of a regular person. Her armour was mostly a mix between light blue and silver and she also wore a golden mask of her own. This mask possessed two small gap like grooves across each side of the lower half and above the forehead were two small open gaps. Compared to the other Toa's golden masks, her's seemed to be much slimmer in comparison.

Stashed on her back was what appeared to be a large staff with what appeared to be a trident on the lower end and two giant blades stationed at the tip. So far, she had seemed to have had no luck in figuring out where to go from the city, after asking some of the locals for some directions back to the City of the Mask Makers or even Okoto itself to which they replied they had no knowledge about. She had also asked about the other Toa and if anyone had spotted them, but alas, much like before, her questions had proven to be of no avail. After wandering around most of the city of Vale, she had decided to look at the last are she had not fully explored as of yet. That area in question would happen to be the docks.

"Salutations!"

The Toa quickly spun around to find the source of the voice and right there was what appeared to be a young girl with short and rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin. She wore a pink bow on the back of her head and had bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. The girl also wore what seemed to be an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls in addition to a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. She smiled energetically at the Toa, much to her sudden surprise.

"Who exactly are you?" she asked.

"Penny," she answered energetically before coming right up to the Toa. "And you are...?"

"Gali," she replied, still feeling somewhat shocked with the sudden energy that Penny had in her speech.

"Well then, it's nice to meet you Gali!" the girl spoke cheerfully as she took the Master of Water's right and shook it up and down in glee, much to her slight discomfort as she eventually stopped.

"Well... I suppose it is nice to meet you too, Penny," said Gali.

At this moment, Penny then glanced over the Toa in wonder, observing both her armour, less than human like appearance and the weapon that she had stored on her back. Upon finishing her observation, that was when she had felt that she had something that she had needed to ask the Master of Water about immediately, perhaps explaining a bit more about her.

"Say... you wouldn't happen to come from around Atlas?" the girl asked in wonder.

"Atlas...?" Gali pondered "Is that far from here?"

"Oh... nevermind then," Penny replied, now taking note of the Toa's confusion from seeing the expression in her yellowish eyes behind her golden mask. "Atlas is another kingdom which specializes in technology and I thought from your look, you might have come from there."

"No, I don't," the Master of Water spoke "I come from the island of Okoto. Though from what I've heard around the beings here, I'm apparently nowhere near the island and now wandering in this Vale."

"Can't say that I've heard of this Okoto," she said "But I suppose you really want to go back there."

"I do," Gali replied "But right now, my only concern is finding the other five Toa and where exactly I have gotten myself to."

"Then it's settled!"

The Toa of Water suddenly blinked for a moment now having noticed that Penny's earlier energetic mood had returned to her in an instant since their conversation went somewhat leeway after she had revealed that she was from Okoto rather than Atlas, Vale or anywhere on Remnant for that regard. The young girl came up close to Gali and placed her hands on her shoulders in an effort to put the Toa's current worries to rest.

"We'll go and find these Toa you've spoken about and we'll see if we can get you back to this Okoto," she said, smiling brightly as she did so.

"I would very much appreciate your help," the Master of Water replied "I was last heading to what appeared to be a port in the distance."

"That would be a good place to start," Penny spoke happily "I'll lead the way there."

If Gali could show a kind smile to the girl from behind her golden mask, she would have done so there and then. Penny seemed harmless enough to her and her childlike innocence somewhat reminded her of the more younger villagers from the Region of Water that she had previously saved from an onslaught of Skull Spiders. For now, it seemed like she would be the best lead to follow on for more information about where she was and maybe she could have ended up helping the Toa find her missing comrades along with their way back to Okoto, if only she knew where four out of the remaining five currently were at this point in time.

Eventually, after walking down severals streets for several minutes, they eventually arrived at the entrance to the docks. What stood in front of them was what appeared to be a maze of large shipping containers and behind them in the distance, lay the edge of the port and the top of any visible boats over the top of the stacks that lay before the two. Gali looked down both ends to see that if she wanted to, she and Penny could simply walk around and see what they could find from there, but something was telling her that it wouldn't do any harm to search through the maze of containers for any possible clues. Before she or Penny could come to a conclusion, they could see a figure, draped in a white cloak of some kind with a hint of red to it, leap over their heads and over the top of the containers.

"The White Fang?" the girl murmured.

"What is this White Fang?" asked Gali.

"From what two of my friends told me," Penny explained "They're a faunus organization that employ violent means and acts of terror. One of those friends was once a former member, but left them after disagreeing with their methods."

"So this White Fang looks to hurt anyone in their way," the Master of Water concluded.

"That's the short story I got," she spoke as she then looked up at Gali as she stared into the maze of crates. "You're going to stop them, right?"

"If they're looking to hurt others, then yes," the Toa answered as she looked back at Penny.

"Then you can count me in," the girl replied "Anything for a friend of mine."

And with that, both Penny and Gali rushed into the maze of crates, to find out what the White Fang were planning to commit next and put a stop to it before they could put it into effect.

* * *

 **And there we go! Whilst Lewa and Pohatu get acqainted at Beacon Academy, after briefly brawling with Cardin Winchester and his lackeys, Gali comes across Penny in the city of Vale and after resolving to find the other Toa together, they come across the White Fang seemingly up to no good and seek to foil whatever scheme they are planning together. Can they succeed? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share your critiques in the reviews and I'll see you all next time. Until then!**


	5. Unity and Collaboration

**Hello again everyone and I welcome you back to the latest chapter! I hope you enjoy what I have in store.**

* * *

Near the edge of the docks, on the other side of the maze of storage containers that went as far back as the entrance to the area, several members of the White Fang had been gathering around in a small group as they stood a few feet out in front of a ramp that had extended out from the large cargo ship that had been docked to the port. Out from the vessel's hold and walking down the ramp was a tall man with slanted, dark-green eyes and bright long orange hair, with long bangs covering over his right eye. He wore a black bowler hat with a red band and a small feather, and also had black eyeliner present around his eyes. The man had a red-lined white suit and a small gray scarf and wore black gloves with rounded sleeves, as well as long black pants and black shoes.

He walked down to the dock where the White Fang members simply stood in formation to silently greet him, their white masks concealing their eyes from outside view leaving only their lips to show their expressions. Over from near the edge of the storage containers, Gali and Penny peered out from the side as they watched the man approach the group, his calm and collected smile having brought about a sense of unease within the Toa and the girl. They remained silent so as to not attract any unwanted attention from the White Fang, until they felt that the moment was right to strike. The tall man stopped in the middle of the group, his cane having been stood up from the ground as he causually leant his right gloved hand on top of the curved handle.

"Now if I may have your attention gentlemen," he spoke "We have an operation we need to carry out if we are going to send this little town running scared. Our 'acquaintance' isn't exactly the patient type and we want to have quite the motherload of Dust, regardless of what form we find it in. Is that understood?"

The White Fang members said nothing in response, but all saluted to the man's question in response to acknowledge their approval in this 'operation' that he had just spoken about. One however raised a hand in order to address his attention as he so noticed, his face turning somewhat to a scowl.

"Is there a problem?" he mused, a hint of annoyance lying beneath his tone.

"Sir, if I may address a possible concern," the White Fang member spoke "I've gotten word from several of our operatives that Beacon may have backup in the form of a metallic warrior. One that don't seem to come from Atlas at all. I believe the one that they were observing was named Pohatu or something."

"Really now?" the man replied "We'll just have to see if this 'backup' as you have called it is as swift as it may be shiny."

The member that spoke to him brought out his tablet, displaying an image of Pohatu from behind along with Oobleck slightly further in front of him. Presumably, this was an image that was taken from the White Fang member that had been observing him over in Mountain Glenn either during or after his fight with the Death Stalker that had attacked both the Toa and the hunter. Over from the stack of crates, Gali's eyes could only widen upon overhearing the mention of the Master of Stone's name at this very moment, causing Penny to turn her attention towards the Toa.

"You know this Pohatu?" she whispered.

"One of the other five Toa," the Master of Water answered "And if he's at this Beacon, that's where I may find the other Toa. More to the point though, who is that person in the middle of the group?"

"My friends know him as Roman Torchwick," Penny replied "He's meant to be one of Vale's most wanted criminals, infamous for his robberies in Dust, the source of power across Remnant for weapons and other items."

Gali for the moment remained silent, taking into account everything that the girl had told her about from both the White Fang's malicious activities and the fact that they had a wanted criminal working alongside them. This was more than enough reason for her to now consider taking action into stopping the operation that Roman himself mentioned that they had planned a few moments earlier. The Toa then turned to Penny as if she knew that the girl had already known what she had been planning to do next.

"You do know how to defend yourself, right Penny?" she asked.

"More than that," Penny replied "I'm always combat ready."

The Toa nodded in acknowledgement before she then held out a hand to tell the girl to wait for the moment as she went back through the maze of crates towards a different side of the docks from the far right, out of sight from the group's line of sight. As Penny patiently waited whilst looking on from her hiding spot towards Roman and the White Fang members that he was with, a few silent moments passed by until a rather loud splash was heard from her left. She along with everyone else within the vicinity of the noise suddenly turned their attention towards the sound that they had just heard, Roman's expression turning to sudden suspicion as even he knew that there was little activity amongst the waters around Vale.

"Search the area!" he called "We don't want any uninvited guests!"

Several of the White Fang members nodded in response to his command and sweeped out to the left hand area of the docks from Penny's perspective, in order to investigate what had caused the splashing sound as they had just heard now. Several long moments passed by as some of them pointed their weapons towards the edge of the dock, in case whatever had been observing them had chosen to hide beneath the water. Then before Roman knew it, a loud noise suddenly sounded from behind him as he turned around just in time to see the water beneath the boat that he had stepped out from began to simmer violently as small, but powerful waves began swirling around the dock.

Looking on in shock to this sudden turn of events, the infamous criminal saw that the waves although small in size, were powerful enough to rock the ship to the point that the ramp had simply broken off from not being able to stand up to the punishment. Several of the White Fang members alongside him took aim towards the water as it slowly began to rise amongst the now violent waves before a bright gold glow suddenly caught them off guard as Gali in a veil of water immediately charged at the distracted Roman, with the larger blades attached to the other end of her trident knocking him backwards to the ground and immediately soaking his clothes and hat in the result, much to his anger as the veil fell apart to reveal the Toa in his presence.

"Well you are certainly full of surprises," he muttered.

"And you won't get away with aiding this White Fang in harming the denizens of Vale," Gali replied as she took up a stance for battle. Roman carefully glanced over her features as did the White Fang member who had shown him the image of Pohatu moments earlier. Then upon recognizing the similar metallic armour from the picture to an extent, the man could only smile in response.

"So it would seem that you know about this Pohatu whose name is going about the White Fang," he spoke "Friend of yours?"

"A comrade to be more exact," the Toa of Water replied as she clutched her weapon's pole tightly.

Immediately after she had spoken, the White Fang members that wielded pistol like weapons suddenly took aim at her whilst the others drew out swords of an average size and pointed them in her direction. Before any of them could shoot however, several strange grey-coloured blades with a rather luminous green power symbol at the center of the bronze-colored hilts and a green line running parallel to one side for each blade suddenly shot out from a certain direction and pierced straight through the firearm weaponry, damaging the barrels of each pistol and knocking them out of the White Fang's hands to the ground. Attached to the hilt of each blade was a very thin, but rather noticeable thin string like cables as both Gali and Roman looked back towards the pile of crates to see that it was Penny that had deployed them.

Two distinct folds had opened up behind the girl's back, indicating as to where the strings and blades had been coming out of, much to the confusion of both the wanted criminal and the Master of Water. Noticing that Roman was distracted, Gali immediately held the end of her trident out with the larger blades as energy crackled around the both of them before she immediately zoomed on towards him. He quickly turned around and held out his cane in front horizontally which had managed to stop the charge of the Toa to a crawl, but only just as he had still been pushed backwards by a signifcant amount. As the Master of Water leaped back to prepare to attack again, she heard a click from the cane as the bottom of the cane suddenly slid out to reveal some sort of rectile before Roman pointed the long object right in her direction.

Then with another click, a projectile suddenly fired out from the end of the cane which immediately prompted her to shield herself with the larger blades of her trident to just avoid being shot before having to leap to the side to dodge even more shots in succession. Meanwhile with the other members of the White Fang, Penny was having very little trouble in fending for herself against the group who had now resorted to unsheating the swords they carried as their offensive weapons. The girl using the wires that were manipulating the blades connected to her back was managing to parry off multiple attacks at once from both up close and from a significant short distance away from her. Then with a wave of her hand, the front halves of her blades suddenly folded backwards to reveal a second configuration amongst them.

Before the White Fang knew it, several neon green blasts of energy fired out of the changed blades in their direction, forcing them to scatter to avoid being shot down by Penny's defensive manuvers. Some of them dropped their weapons and immediately fled the battle whilst a few others remained and took cover as the firepower from the blades, the girl turned around to see Gali having to remain vigilant as she continiously had to jump from spot to spot to avoid getting shot at pinpoint range from Roman's cane, much to the criminal's amusement as he effortlessly continued to fire upon the Master of Water, circling around the area of dock as he did so.

"Honestly 'Blue'," he mused "Would it kill it for you to start fighting me face-to-face?"

Gali having had enough with his taunts immediately faced him head on after jumping to avoid another shot from his cane. Charging up more energy that was stored in her trident, she immediately zoomed towards Roman who could only smirk as he pointed his cane at the Toa, preparing to fire at point blank. Before he had an opportunity, some of Penny's blades were turned upon the criminal as they shot more blasts of green lasers to bring his attention towards them. Taking aim at them with his cane, he immediately shot them in response, causing them to fall to the ground. Roman then turned forwards to face Gali, immediately realizing that he was too late to do anything to defend himself as he felt the full force of her weapon knocking him across the area towards the edge of the dock.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, the criminal slowly got back up onto his knees as the Master of Water eventually rejoined Penny who had reeled in the two downed blades via their cables as they entered the open 'hatch' on her back. Noticing that Roman and the remaining White Fang members were close to the edge of where they were standing, the Toa held out her open right hand and pointed it right in their direction, much to everyone's confusion at first. Then as Gali's golden mask gained an azure blue like aura to it, the water behind the group suddenly began to simmer violently again before a large portion erupted into a large column before it came crashing down on Roman and the White Fang, scattering them across the dock and leaving them soaked to the brim. Penny was surprised to say the least as she looked up at the Toa who briefly panted from having to exert that much energy.

"You can manipulate water on its own?" she asked.

"Yes," the Master of Water replied "It is my own element. The other five Toa can all wield elements of their own."

As Roman coughed out all of the seawater that had ended up in his mouth from Gali's last attack, he listened carefully to what she mentioned, now knowing that she was one of these Toa that she spoke of that and that there were more than just her and presumably Pohatu. he looked to the right just in time to hear the noise of a familiar vehicle grow louder as it came closer into the vicinity of the group. Looking up, the Master of Water and Penny could see a Bullhead coming into view as it stopped and hovered several feet above the ground as a ramp then extended out to a few meters from the dock, prompting for the remaining White Fang members to retreat onto the craft. The criminal smirked and turned back to the two.

"I'd stick around here, 'Blue' and little miss," he spoke "But I have my own fun to attend to."

Pointing his can right towards the ground in front of him, Roman shot the floor of the dock with the impact of the small blast knocking him backwards through the air and gracefully onto the ramp of the Bullhead as he immediately retreated into the hull with the ramp retracting back into the ship. Penny with her remaining blades still out immediately aimed them towards the rear of the craft and launched them towards there immediately, having used this this sort of tactic once before. However, Roman who had seen this being used before was ready with his own counter to the same scenario as he quickly and rather frantically shot down every single blade that attempted to latch onto the Bullhead with the only one being successfuly getting shot down immediately afterwards.

The criminal laughed at the girl's misfortune of reeling him in as the doors to Bullhead closed as it then soared off into the distance, now proving to be impossible to catch up with on foot. As Penny reeled back the downed blades with the cables that were attached to them, she could only sigh at the damage they had suffered as the weapons were stored right into her back before the 'hatch' closed up. Gali noticed this and looked back down at the girl.

"You seem to have a rather... odd way of storing your weapons," she murmured.

"Well... that's just the way I am," Penny replied "But we did stop them from carrying out their 'operation'."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Gali spoke "Roman still got away, so there's no telling when he could try again."

At this moment in time, a sudden loud bang sounded from the distance, causing the Toa and the girl to turn their attention back towards the city as they could see smoke rising from the distance. Looking towards where it was coming from, the two nodded in agreement as if they already knew what the other was thinking and decided to head to that point of the city to take a look into what had just happened.

* * *

By the time Gali and Penny had reached the street from where they assumed that the sound of the explosion had come from, they noticed several people running away from the confrontation in front of them as could only stare on in shock to see that several more members of the White Fang who were already armed within the midst of the cracked road ahead of them. Looking forwards to see who they were fighting against, they could see a tall metallic like figure from amongst the center of the group. This figure were most familiar to the Master of Water as her eyes widened in surprise to the sight of who they were. Penny looked up at Gali in confusion for a brief moment before looking back at them to now see why she had appeared to have reacted this way.

"Is that...?" she murmured.

"It is," the Master of Water replied "One of the other five Toa. Or to be more exact... Kopaka."

Kopaka had mostly white armour with golden cladding amongst the shoulder plating, the upper arms and the upper half of his silver torso armour and the lower legs with the exception of his white boot like feet. His golden mask was rather different from that of the other Toa, his being rather asymmetric evidenced by the regular eyehole being present on his left side and on his right was a small hole with two larger telescopic like lenses protuding above and beneath it. In his left hand, he wielded a large shield which was comprised of large white blades that were nearly identical in design to Tahu's own blades with the difference being in their purpose and colour whilst in his right hand, the Master of Ice wielded a long spear with the tip having some sort of ice like energy patter and a sharp point that was similar in design to Pohatu's dagger.

Around him were several members of the White Fang, most of them wielding the standard swords and handguns much like the other members that Gali and Penny had fought off with Roman minutes earlier, but there was member in particular that seemed to stand out from the rest of them. This member wasn't cloaked in white like the rest of the White Fang the Toa and the girl had encountered so far, but instead wore a long-sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and more red designs and a white symbol on the left side. His trench coat was red on the inside with red flame-like accents at the bottom and a large emblem on the back, with a white tulip design covered by a red rose design.

This particular member also wore long black pants and black shoes that are red on the bottom and black gloves with more red emblems on their forehand appearance and his black belt possessed several white domino marks on it. Like all the other members of the White Fang, he also wore what appeared to be a mask that seemed to resemble that which would belong to a Grimm, evidenced by the whitish-tan colour with the addition of red flame-like symbols decorating the front, brown beast-like-ear pieces of cloth on the top of both sides and two slits on each side, presumably to allow for vision as it obscured his eyes from outside view. Carried in his hand was a long red blade with what appeared to be a regular hilt to outside view. Although Kopaka could not see the member's eyes, even with the telescopic vision available from his golden mask, he already had the feeling that he was being stared upon from him and everyone else surrounding him.

"Even with your might from Atlas, you cannot hope to stop our revolution," he spoke, his tone seeming somewhat bitter "I will see to it that your downfall will be a reminder to humanity about that."

"I do not know of this Atlas you speak of," the Master of Ice spoke back coolly "What I do know is that you were attempting to harm innocent denizens to accomplish your goal and I will not stand for it. My name is Kopaka, Master of Ice, and I will not stand down."

"Very well then, Kopaka," the man spoke "If you won't stand aside, then we will just have to remove you from our path."

Kopaka gazed closely at him before aiming his lance right at the White Fang member and shooting out a blast of ice towards him. Instinctively, the man jumped clear of the blast as it froze over the spot that he was previously standing with a sheet of ice before he brought down his sword upon the Toa who responded by blocking with his shield and taking a stride backwards to brace himself. Then, the blade suddenly folded away as a barrel extended from the hilt to show that the man's weapon had a dual function in being able to switch from melee to ranged, much like Penny's own blades and most weapons that were wielded on Remnant. He then immediately fired a barrage of bullets at the Master of Ice, who responded by raising up a barrier with his shield that was comprised of multiple hexagons that caused the shots to bounce off on impact.

As the other White Fang members proceeded to fire upon Kopaka, he knew that his shield would not stand up to this much punishment for much longer and that he would need to get back on the offensive and quickly. Suddenly, before his attackers had known what had hit them, Gali and Penny with their own weapons drawn out had joined in the brawl by knocking down all of the White Fang members, one by one. The one that had initially attacked Kopaka had to leap clear to avoid being rammed into from the Master of Water's trident as the Master of Ice lowered his barrier and began using his spear to conjure up streams of ice that froze each and every member's feet in a solid formation of thick ice to prevent them from moving.

The man that had attacked him had gotten to the top of a rooftop after leaping clear from more of the Toa's blasts of ice until he was almost out of range. He gazed upon Gali, taking note of her similar designs in their armour as well as their golden masks of power whilst Penny simply stared up at him.

"It seems our confrontation will have to wait, Master of Ice," he spoke "Humanity cannot stop this revolution and your eventual fall will see to that." He then disappeared over the rooftop and out of sight, much to the Toa's slight annoyance.

"Stay and fight coward!" he called.

"Leave him be Kopaka," Gali spoke, bringing the Master of Ice's attention to her.

"Gali, where have you been?" he asked sternly before diverting his attention to Penny "And who is she?"

"I'm Penny!" the girl replied happily "It is my pleasure to meet you Kopaka!"

"I see..." he muttered as he looked over the White Fang members whose feet had remained trapped in the formations of ice that he had created with his spear earlier before looking back to the Master of Water.

"I've been around Vale since waking back up, much like you have," Gali spoke "Right now, we need to find the other Toa and see how we can get back to Okoto."

"Indeed," Kopaka replied in a rather reserved tone "So where we are is this Vale. Have you found out anything about 'them'?"

"I've overheard the White Fang talking about something called Beacon where Pohatu was headed to," the Master of Water answered "I believe that is where we should start our search."

Upon hearing the mention of the academy's name, Penny could only smile warmly upon hearing that was where the Toa of Stone had been headed towards. Gali and Kopaka noticed this and turned towards the girl, believing that she knew more to this 'Beacon' that they had not heard about beforehand. This had also raised a few questions that had they had wanted to ask her about in regards to their surroundings and who they had already or would encounter.

"If Pohatu's already at Beacon, then he must have already met Ruby!" she said in joy.

"Is this Ruby one of your friends?" asked Gali.

"Absolutely!" Penny replied enthusiastically "Ruby is one of my best friends who is studying to become a huntress at Beacon Academy. She's even the leader of her own team there and I've become well acqainted with all of them before, even helping them out on a previous run in with the White Fang."

"Well then, I suppose Tahu should take a lesson or two from her if he wants to lead us properly," the Master of Ice muttered.

"Kopaka, it is our unity that has helped us to prevail on Okoto before," Gali interjected "I understand we never had a chance to settle on that vote for a leader and that Tahu had taken up charge then, but our combined strengths have proven to be effective. Though I must wonder if unity is something that this Ruby has already managed to master with this 'team' of hers."

All remained silent as they contemplated over each of their own individual thoughts on the matters at hand for the Toa. They knew that heading for Beacon Academy would be the first step to take for them to reunite as they had already known that Pohatu was now there, unaware that the remaining three Toa were also with him at this point in time. Then several moments later, a car drove up to the group and stopped alongside them as a door suddenly opened up. Penny peered inside and quickly recognized the driver before looking back at Gali and Kopaka.

"I've got to get going," she said "If you ask around the city, you should get some clear directions to Beacon Academy. I wish you two the best of luck and that we may meet again someday."

"The same goes to you, Penny," Gali replied.

"Well then, this is where we must part ways," the girl sighed "And please promise you'll say hi to Ruby for me."

"Until we meet again, we'll hold to that promise," Kopaka spoke.

Penny smiled for a brief moment before entering the car and closing the door, the vehicle immediately driving away from the two Toa and into the distance until it was eventually out of sight from them. When the street they were standing in had fallen silent once again, with the exception of the groans and struggles from the White Fang members whose feet had still been frozen solid, Gali and Kopaka looked at each other and nodded in agreement to heed the girl's advice and get the correct directions that they would need to get to Beacon Academy on their own.

* * *

 **And there we go! As Gali and Penny collaberate to successfully repel a White Fang attack led on the city of Vale by Roman Torchwick, they succeed in finding and aiding Kopaka in fending off another squad in the streets and briefly encounter Adam Taurus, who seeks to bring down the Toa unaware that they are from Okoto rather than Atlas as he has believed so at first. With advice from one of Ruby's closest friends, the Masters of Ice and Water set out to Beacon Academy to find Pohatu and hopefully, the other Toa along with him. What will happen when the six heroes reunite? Find out in two chapters time as next time, we catch up to Ekimu the Mask Maker and his own adventure on Remnant. Please share your thoughts/critiques in the reviews and I'll see you next time.**


	6. Ambition and Doubt

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Masters of Remnant. For those who haven't already noticed on my profile, I have set up an ongoing poll for you to decide on two horde enemies from BIONICLE G1 to be 'revived' within the world of Remnant for the much later portions of the story. It will be available until I get around around midway of the events of Volume 2 which means you'll have plenty of time to vote over the course of the updates. Aside from that, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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In a vast open expanse of the continent of Vale, surrounded only by several trees and rocks leaving quite the large plain in open view and sight for him, the short armoured figure continued his trek throughout the open countryside of the kingdom. His small silver feet, which seemed somewhat bare much like Onua's, had managed to carry him across wherever it was that he was in for many miles throughout the day. The figure was mostly clad in gold armour with hints of light blue across the chest and torso and in his silver hands, he wielded two tools that were necessary for his defensive purposes on his journey through this most strange and unfamiliar of places. In his right hand, he wielded a small, but reasonably sized hammer with two light blue drums, one of which that held six open holds at the frontmost face that would normally impact into whatever the figure would swing it into.

In his left hand, the figure wielded a large silver shield with a circular look to it, evidenced by the sharp spikes that protuded around the edge and the gold crested patterns carved into the face of the defensive tool. Like all six of the Toa that had arrived on Remnant as a result of the golden mask that the Skull Warriors had unearthed in the midst of their sudden ambush in the City of the Mask Makers, this figure also bore one of that colour, his being much more regal in appearance compared to the others. The top half of the mask held five vertical rectangular columns that curved near the top with three of them being engraved with strange symbols inside various square like carvings. This seemed to almost give off the impression of a crown worn by a noble king to those that were unfamiliar with this particular mask.

On the lower half of the mask were two eyeholes and five more points protuding outwards, albeit much smaller than the points on the top half. Much like said top half, all but of the points had several squares embedded with strange runes carved into each and every one of them. The figure had been keeping a careful watch of his surroundings with his yellowish eyes as he continued to walk across the open plain, his gaze focused on an all too familiar tower that was in the distance. Though it was somewhat tiny in appearance from the distance that he was at from the location, he knew that if there was some semblance of civilization nearby from where he had regained consciousness, that would be the place to start searching.

At the same time though, he had felt somewhat cautious ever since he took his first steps into the world of Remnant, having felt some kind of dark presence from all around him as he journeyed onwards towards the tower that was within sight from where he was currently standing. All that he knew was that the sooner that he could reunite with the Toa, provided that he could find them first, the sooner that he could explain the whole situation of how they came to be on this very world from outside of Okoto and the sooner that they could discuss a course of action to find their own way back to the island, where whatever other threats that Makuta still posed to both the Protectors and the villagers were still unacounted for.

He suddenly stopped as he heard a rustle of grass from nearby as he carefully gazed around his surroundings before his eyes landed upon two figures that were much taller than him, their faces and bodies with the exceptions of their arms being obscured by the pitch black cloth that covered them. Seemingly, only one of them was armed with what appeared to be a pair of sickles that were present in their hands.

"I must say, for this being the strange person we had to go after," the first figure spoke, her voice although female had the vocals seemingly altered to outside hearing "He is a lot shorter than I expected."

"Who are you?" the gold armoured figure asked, his voice sounding almost elderly to the ear.

"Who we are is of no concern to you," the second figure answered, his voice much like the first cloaked figure, also having his vocals altered to anyone hearing him. "For now, our interest is taking that mask that you have. Our 'associate' has a great deal of interest in its use."

"I will not hand over the Mask of Creation to this 'associate'," he replied "In the wrong hands, it can also become a mask of destruction and I have a feeling from your words that may be the intention."

At first, both of the cloaked figures remained silent as did the short gold figure who remained tense as to what could arise from this confrontation. He was sure that there was something very off about the way they spoke, as if they were hiding the intent that their 'associate' had for the Mask of Creation that he wore. Then, the female that had spoken out earlier pulled back her left arm before clicking something in the sickle as she thrust her arm forwards, the sharp front end of the weapon having soared across the plain towards him across a chain that extended out from the hilt. With quick thinking and perfect timing, he raised up his shield in front of his face to prevent the sickle from hooking onto the mask.

As the cloaked female reeled back her launched sickle's 'hook' back to the hilt via the chain that it was attached to, her associate immediately ran towards him before leaping up onto his hands and performing a series of kicks in mid air as projectiles suddenly fired from his boots towards the gold armoured figure, who used his shield to deflect the many energy bolts that were about to strike him, the impact of each blow having knocking him backwards a few steps. He looked forwards just in time to see his attacker jump up high into the air, preparing to land a hard kick on him. The gold figure responded by instead raising up his hammer and firing light bluish energy bolts from the face of the hammer in response.

The cloaked male, having not anticipated this sudden manuver, tried to weave through the barrage of projectiles, only for one to strike his left foot causing him to lose his balance in mid air and fall straight to the ground. Recovering quickly, he leaped clear to avoid being shot at by the energy bolts that were being shot out of the figure's hammer and charged towards him once again. The gold figure this time rammed the front of his shield into the foot that his attacker was attempting to kick him with, causing the blast that erupted from the boot to recoil from the sudden close proximity, severely damaging it in the result. As the cloaked male then attempt to kick with his other foot, his target spun the spiked edges of his shield almost like a buzzsaw and slashed across the boot.

This had causing not just the weaponized footwear, but the entire foot as a whole to fall off as he had somehow slashed through the limb with ease. The cloaked male fell backwards to the ground as he once again lost his balance as he glanced over towards the severed limb, now revealed to be almost metallic much like the figure that he had just attempted to attack and then to the bottom of the leg it was seperated from, sparks now leaking out from the lack of a foot. As the gold armored figure walked towards him, he looked down upon the assailant, his gaze remaining stern and somewhat unwavering.

"I do not know why you had chosen to attack me," he spoke "But I will not stand for whatever intention you and your partner has for using the Mask of Creation. My name is Ekimu and I will only give you one chance to stop this fight immediately."

Whilst the cloaked male said nothing in reply, the Mask Maker turned just in time to see the female launch another sickle towards him. Much like before, he raised his shield in response, but this time, the chain and the 'hook' ended up wrapping itself onto the gold engraving of the protective item. She clicked onto the hilt of the launched sickle as she attempted to pull him closer towards her as she prepared to launch another sickle to latch onto the Mask of Creation. This time however, Ekimu had already thought out his own means of counter-offensive from the way things had played out. The Mask Maker clutched the handle of his shield tightly, a small but noticable click being heard as he did so.

Then the shield suddenly began spinning rapidly in an anticlockwise direction as the cloaked female suddenly lost her balance for brief moment and felt herself being dragged forwards, realizing that Ekimu was now using his defensive tool to reel her towards him rather than the other way around as she had intended. Muttering under her breath for a brief moment, not loudly enough for the Mask Maker or her downed partner to hear, she clicked her other sickle as the front blade folded to change the weapon's shape completely into some kind of projectile based weapon, almost like a gun of some kind. Almost immediately, she began firing green bullets upon the Mask Maker who was quick to leap to the side, also resulting in the first sickle being yanked out of the shield and back to the female.

She immediately changed that sickle to match the mode that the other one was presently in, resulting in both her and Ekimu locked in a shootout of desperate wits, with the gold figure being on the defensive thanks to his shield and the fact that although he could shoot back with his hammer, he knew that the rate of fire for the moment was only half of what the assailant was already throwing his way. He also knew that with the fact that her weapons could switch modes could also mean that if he were to let his guard down, then she would be able to latch on to the Mask of Creation by switching her 'guns' back to sickle form and snatching it from his face when he least expected it. For now, until he could find an opening to catch her unaware, remaining on the defensive was all that he could do.

Whilst the Mask Maker and the cloaked female continued to exchange shots at one another, the first assailant had managed to crawl over to his metal foot before holding it up in the air and triggering the mechanism that shot out projectiles whenever he would perform a kick whilst it was still attached to his leg. After Ekimu had blocked another volley of shots from his female attacker, he turned to his left too late as the blast knocked him backwards, followed by another two that had disarmed him of both his hammer and shield. He fell to the ground on his back before she had come up and laid down her right foot firmly on top of his chest armour, preventing him from standing back up.

The Mask Maker could only look on as the cloaked female reached out with her medium-brown coloured right hand, having put one of her sickles away prior, intending to reach out for the Mask of Creation. Before he could respond or even know what was coming next, a white coloured projectile suddenly struck her hand, encasing it and part of her arm in ice as she suddenly stepped backwards in shock. Ekimu noticing that she was distracted, pushed himself off the ground and knocking his attacker backwards as he turned around, just in time to see Gali and Kopaka racing towards the battle that had been ongoing between him and his two attackers. The cloaked female leaped backwards to avoid being frozen by the Master of Ice's icy projectiles that were shot her way from the Toa's spear.

The cloaked male who still had held on to his severed limb attempted to swing it to shoot more projectiles from the boot, only for Gali to charge at him with her trident head on, knocking him backwards with the boot falling to the ground, far out of reach from him. A noticable growl was heard from him as he stared at the two Toa who had regrouped with the Mask Maker as did his female partner as she stood beside him.

"Are you alright Ekimu?" asked Gali.

"Brave Toa, I am relieved to have been found by you," Ekimu replied "Both of my attackers have been looking to steal the Mask of Creation for an associate of theirs."

"And you have been fighting off both of them on your own?" Kopaka spoke.

"Indeed," he answered "I do not know how they have already known about this mask's existence, given that we are no longer on Okoto, but I can only assume from their actions that it does not bode well for the inhabitants of where we are now."

The Toa and the Mask Maker then looked towards the two cloaked figures, the female having hauled her partner onto her right shoulder due to him being unable to stand back onto his only remaining foot, much to her annoyance. Before the three of them could advance forwards, a tall wall of fire suddenly erupted in front of them, obscuring all view of the cloaked figures from sight. Gali in response held out her trident in front and using her golden mask, channeled a large jet of water through the blades towards the inferno in front of her, dowsing the flames with slow, but efficient ease. When the fire was extinguished, the two cloaked figures were now out of sight from the Master of Water and those beside her.

With them now gone from their vicinity, the three of them could now let out a sigh of relief that they were no longer in danger for the time being. What did now know was that someone in Remnant had known of the Mask of Creation and was looking to obtain it as their own through any means necessary. For what purpose they intended to use it for was however a mystery that would no doubt reveal itself when the right opportunity arose for them.

"Have you found any of the others yet?" asked Ekimu.

"Not yet," Kopaka replied "But we believe that Pohatu is at a place called Beacon Academy. We were walking there from some directions given to us until we found you."

"Then it has been good fortune that we were not scattered as far as I had thought," the Mask Maker replied "I believe I know what may have brought us here. It was a mask that I knew was spoken about in myth long ago, but I never thought it would have actually existed."

"What mask would that be?" asked Gali.

"It was something that would come to be known in legend as the Mask of Dimensional Gates," he spoke "All I know now is that myth is now be confirmed to be a reality and that Makuta was not the first Mask Maker to break the sacred law in the creation of Masks of Power. But that is a story that must wait as for now, we must find the other Toa and quickly. I can sense an evergrowing darkness all around us."

Deciding not to argue with the wise Mask Maker, both the Masters of Ice and Water nodded with each other in agreement and led the way for Ekimu towards the tower that was in the distance, now confirmed to be where Beacon Academy was stationed. The two of them shared their own adventures in Vale with Gali meeting Penny and the three of them getting into scuffles with the White Fang, allowing Ekimu to take note that the beings in this world were humans and faunus. Some that were clearly more friendlier than others, given all of the fights that they had been involved with thus far. Part of him was intrigued to meet this 'Ruby' that the Master of Water had mentioned in their conversation, with Penny having brought up that she was the leader of her own team.

And with that, the two Toa and the Mask Maker strode forth towards their destination in mind, keeping their attention focused towards the tower in the distance that seemed to grow larger with every mile that they traveled for. All they knew was that the sooner that they could find the Master of Stone, the sooner they could discuss a plan of action in regards to the other Toa and the Mask of Dimensional Gates that Ekimu had brought up.

* * *

"Ugh. If you hadn't had your foot cut off or for me being kind after using my Semblance on three figures at once, I wouldn't be hauling your ass back to Cinder, Mercury."

The two figures, now uncloaked since they were out of sight from both Ekimu and the Toa, were walking through the forest back towards wherever they had come from, presumably to meet this Cinder that the female had just mentioned. The female whose lower right arm had remained frozen as a result of Kopaka's surprise attack, was using said arm's shoulder to 'haul' back her male partner through the trees as water continued to drip from the ice as time went on. Her skin matched the colour of the frozen arm and she also had dark-red eyes. Her hair was a light, mint-green cut with a straight fringe and bangs, as well as two long locks on each side in the back. Her attire consisted of an intricate, exotic-looking white top and olive undershirt, on the back of which was what appeared to be her own personal emblem.

She also wore white pants and brown chaps that end at her calves and an overlong belt, twice-wrapped which was where she kept her weapons in addition to a single pouch. The girl's expression was giving off a hint of annoyance to say the least, not from having her right arm encased in a block of solid ice, but from having to carry back Mercury, who seemed to take no notice of her current dismay. His hair and eyes were a silvery-gray and he wore a grey and black two-tone partial-zip jacket, that covered his upper body whilst he had black pants covering down his whole legs down to his feet, an exposed metal joint being present from where Ekimu's shield had severed the boot from.

"If I were you, I would relax a little Emerald," he spoke bemusedly "We did what she asked for and drew out the Toa to confirm their existence. Grabbing the Mask of Creation immediately before the final plan was simply an optional bonus."

"Well one thing's for certain, getting you a spare foot doesn't come easy," Emerald muttered under breath.

Mercury simply ignored her annoyed tone and heaved himself with aid from her shoulder across the forest glade towards the city of Vale where they would meet up with Cinder to discuss about what had happened in the ambush that they had set off today. As they did so, an icy chill suddenly ran up both of their spines as they turned their heads around to see if someone or something was following them. But all they saw was their own shadows cast by the sunlight through the tops of the tress that towered above them. Glancing around them, they expressions quickly changed as they were determined to find out what had cast that sudden suspicion of doubt around them at this very instant.

"We know you're here!" Emerald called "Quit hiding in the shadows!"

In response however, their own shadows suddenly began to seemingly take up a life of their own as they merged into one black puddle like wisp as two dark red eyes flashed out from the abyss that was plastered on the ground before them. When it spoke, it almost felt as if it was somehow rocking the very earth that they were standing upon at this very moment.

" **Shadows are everywhere... and where they are... so am I...** "

Both Emerald and Mercury suddenly tensed up as they heard every single word the omnious voice from amongst the darkness that lay before them had spoken out and although it wasn't obvious from their expressions, deep inside, they couldn't help but feel somewhat spooked from all of this. From what they could make out, it was male to say the least with a slow and somewhat bold tone to it. The 'shadow' then suddenly rose up to reach around their height as the cold red eyes from amongst the pitch black that 'stood' in front them stared right into the two humans, as if it was somehow observing their next course of action, not saying another word as it did so.

"Just who or what are you?" Mercury asked, scowling at the thought of being intimidated by whatever was in front of him.

" **I am the very shape of the darkness you see around you...** " the shadow spoke " **Your fears are rather... noticable from this perspective.** "

"There's no way you could be the actual darkness itself," he muttered "You don't even have a body to back that up."

" **Even without a physical being of my own...** " it continued, his presence suddenly reappearing on the shadow that was cast upon a nearby tree " **Your limited understanding of the concepts before you leave much to be desired...** "

"How about a name or something?!" Emerald demanded, clearly somewhat unnerved by everything that was happening because of this one 'shadow'.

" **You may know of me... as Makuta,** " it answered, his tone sounding as if he was unfazed by the questions that he had been asked by this point. " **We shall meet again soon...** "

And with that, 'Makuta' seemingly into nothingless as the red eyes faded from the shadow that was cast on the tree also vanished with his ever ominous presence. Emerald and Mercury looked down at their own shadows to see that they had gone back to normal, now that he had vanished from the forest altogether. They looked at one another and shrugged as the girl continued onwards back to Cinder as she 'hauled' the 'crippled' boy on her shoulder. The two of them couldn't help but wonder what had exactly played out before their eyes just now in the 'conversation' that had briefly unfolded. All that they knew was that they felt they needed to be cautious about this Makuta and that it would be of their best interest to inform their 'associate' about this turn of events immediately.

* * *

Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, near the top of the tower that stood within the campus, Tahu and the other Toa stood alongside both teams RWBY and JPNR as they gazed around the office of Ozpin. Surrounding them were several pillars with windows of glass between each one and above their heads was a large circular sheet of glass, through which they could see a large mechanism of some kind, consisting mostly of cogs and gears as they kept on turning. Turnng their attention towards the headmaster who was seated at the desk in front of a window that seemed to have a clock face of some kind embedded on the outside, they could see that he was carefully looking upon the four Toa, taking note of their expressions from their eyes alone before he stood up.

"So you wished to see me?" he spoke.

"Yes," Onua answered "We were wondering if you had heard any news in regards to where the other Toa are."

"So far, we haven't heard anything as to their whereabouts," Ozpin replied "But we do have some news regarding to the mask that you 'lost' during the scuffle with the Skull Warriors from earlier."

"What news would that be?" asked Yang.

"Before Glynda and I had come to observe the aftermath of the fight," he continued "We noticed a bright golden glow from nearby and saw that it had seperated into six smaller lights which rocketed off in seperate directions across Remnant. The only conclusion we could draw up from what you told us was that the mask wasn't destroyed, but had seperated into smaller fragments."

"So then Ozpin," Lewa interrupted "We just have to find those fragments as you have theorized and put the mask back together. Then we can get back to Okoto to help Ekimu and the villagers."

"From your perspective, that may be the case," Ozpin spoke "But for now, until we can pinpoint the locations of where those lights landed, putting the mask back together will be a challenge that will have to wait."

The Toa remained unanimously silent, knowing for an iron clad fact that they along with anyone present at Beacon Academy had no idea of where the six fragments of the Mask of Dimensional Gates could have landed and that until the headmaster of Beacon Academy could determine where they were, calling on a search for them was out of the question. Everyone from both RWBY and JPNR looked at them, with most of them feeling sorry for the fact that they remained stranded in a world that wasn't their own whilst two of their teammates were still missing from the group. Ruby was the first to break the long silence that had fallen between them.

"In any case, we should at least make a start on helping you find the other two Toa!" she proclaimed.

"Agreed," Tahu replied boldly.

"Actually, we don't need to do any searching," Lewa bemusedly spoke.

"Why not?" asked Pyrrha.

"Look," Pohatu interrupted, pointing to the window.

The remaining Toa and the teams all rushed to the window that the Masters of Stone and Jungle were standing beside and looked down through some of the clouds, just in time to see Gali, Kopaka and Ekimu walking down the pathway that led towards the front doors of Beacon Academy. Ozpin eventually joined them, gazing down upon the three figures, most notably the Mask Maker himself, presumably due to the Mask of Creation that he wore. He then turned towards the large group of students and otherworldly metallic heroes.

"It would seem fortune has fallen in your favor," he spoke "Perhaps it would be in our best interest to go and greet them."

Everyone else nodded as they all left the office into the elevator, much to the discomfort of a few as they had previously experienced on the first elevator trip on the way up to Ozpin, with Weiss having previously noted that aloud in an annoyed fashion, much to Lewa's amusement at the time. When they were all 'settled' in the elevator, the doors eventually closed allowing it to descend to the base of the tower, where the Toa would finally be reunited with both their missing comrades and Ekimu. With the six heroes and the Mask Maker now moments away from rejoining at this very moment, who knew what lay in store for the future of them and all of the denizens of Remnant, human and faunus alike.

* * *

 **And there we go! Whilst heading towards Beacon Academy, Gali and Kopaka save Ekimu from being overwhelmed by Emerald and Mercury, who were sent by Cinder to draw out the Toa to confirm their existence, whilst also aiming to retrieve the Mask of Creation for her. On their way back to their associate, the two of them are briefly confronted by Makuta who seems to have also arrived to Remnant with his own plans already forged for its denizens and the world itself. Back at Beacon Academy, the Toa see their missing comrades and the Mask Maker from Ozpin's office and hurry down with the headmaster and both teams RWBY and JPNR to greet them. What will happen from this reunion and what is the myth that Ekimu had briefly brought up? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share your thoughts/critiques in the reviews and I'll see you all next time. Until then!**


	7. The Mask of Dimensional Gates

**Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of Masters of Remnant.**

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As Gali, Kopaka and Ekimu approached the front entrance of Beacon Academy, they could see that the previously damaged floor and statue from the earlier battle that had taken place had eventually been repaired, almost seeming like nothing had happened at all. The Mask Maker had been in front of the two Toa, being somewhat cautious in his approach having not wanted to be caught off guard by other hostile denizens from Remnant like the White Fang that the Master of Water had brought up or his two cloaked attackers that they had managed to drive off. He gazed around the front area of the entrance before looking up towards the tower, now seeing that he could confirm that it was the same one that he had previously seen in the distance.

The Toa stopped briefly to look at the repaired statue that stood in the middle of the fountain pool, taking note in its appearance as they looked at it with intrigue. It appeared to depict a hunter wielding a sword and a huntress holding a large axe, both standing atop a large rock that overlooked a Beowolf that looked somewhat similar to the one that Tahu had previously fought within the Emerald Forest. Eventually, after a short while, they rejoined Ekimu as they came up towards the front doors leading to the inside of Beacon Academy. Before they could respond, they swung open in an instance, revealing the presence of the other four Toa along with both teams RWBY and JNPR as they stepped outside to meet them.

"Toa, it is a relief to find all of you here," the Mask Maker spoke as they rushed over to him, Gali and Kopaka.

"Ekimu, it is good to see you and the others are alright," said Onua.

The hunters and huntresses in training blinked for a brief moment, now seeing Ekimu in all of his glory for the very first time. Despite the regal appearance of the Mask of Creation offering some insight as to why he held the title in the first place, the way that he appeared to them seemed somewhat different than they previously imagined from hearing Tahu and Onua speak about him. Shortly after they had stepped out to join the group of heroes, Ozpin arrived at the doorway to observe the meeting of the Toa, the Mask Maker and his students.

"That's Ekimu?" Weiss pondered, a hint of confusion having been present in her voice.

"He does look a little shorter than I thought," Blake murmured, having previously pictured him to be just a head shorter than the Toa rather than the average size of the Protectors.

The Toa and Ekimu all exchanged conversations with each other in regards to their own adventures within the Kingdom of Vale, bringing each other up to date with what they had learned in their own experiences and the many threats and confrontations that they had to deal with thus far, from the creatures of Grimm, the White Fang and mysterious assailants that had been sent to steal the Mask of Creation for purposes none could imagine. The news of the Skull Warriors having also been present in Remnant however had only stirred the Mask Maker's fears slightly which seemed to catch the attention of Ozpin as he continued to watch and overhear their conversation with intrigue.

By the time the Toa had finished exchanging their respective ventures with one another, the four that were present at Beacon Academy for some time turned their attention over to both of the teams that had approached them. Pohatu was the first to speak out for them.

"These are some of the students that we have met from arriving at Beacon," the Master of Stone spoke "They go under their team names, RWBY and JPNR."

"I see," murmured Kopaka as he glanced over them, studying each of their curious expressions as the telescopic lenses in his gold mask extended out slightly whilst Nora happily waved to greet the Master of Ice. "Which one of you is Ruby?"

"That would be my sister," Yang replied, raising up her right hand to clarify her for the Toa who had not met her before, much to Ruby's slight discomfort as she looked back at Kopaka.

"So, why'd you ask?" she asked as her arm was eventually let go from her older sister.

"Penny wanted us to say hello for her before we left the city," Gali answered "That and we heard that you were the leader of your own team."

"So you've met Penny, that's great!" Ruby replied "How's she doing?"

"Well, your friend is... eccentric to say the least," the Master of Water spoke "I will admit if had it not been for her, Kopaka and I would not have been able to push back Torchwick or the White Fang."

"So you've had a run in with them," murmured Blake "I'm only relieved that you've come out unharmed Gali."

Neither Gali or Kopaka said nothing in response to what she said, but Pohatu briefly took into account the girl's more serious tone, believing that there was something more to what she was saying for the time being. Recalling what Penny had told the Master of Water from the fact that one of Ruby's friends had once been a former member of the White Fang, she couldn't help but wonder if Blake somehow knew about this by herself. By this point, Ekimu had approached team RWBY followed by Tahu and Lewa as Ozpin eventually left the doorway and came to join them at once, his intrigued gaze having not left his eyes for even a second.

"As you may already have heard from the Toa, I am Ozpin," he said, introducing himself to the Mask Maker "I believe given the fact that you bear what I assume is the Mask of Creation and from what I've heard, you must be Ekimu, the Mask Maker."

"Indeed you are correct," Ekimu spoke "I am only relieved that had it not been for you, there would have been little chance of the Toa and myself reuniting in this Remnant that we now find ourselves within. Already, some of us have been in contact with dark forces that have been plaguing this world and even now, there have been denizens that have somehow become aware of my mask and looking to use it for their own purposes."

"And I'm afraid your matter has been further complicated," Ozpin continued "The mask that brought you here was not destroyed, but seperated into fragments that could be anywhere across Remnant."

"Then as long as those fragments are still intact, there may still be hope for us yet," the Mask Maker replied as he looked back to the Toa. "For now, there is something that I need to tell all of you about. Something I believed was nothing more than myth."

The Toa and the girls of team RWBY looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders before looking back at Ekimu, intrigued to know about what he was intending to tell them about.

"So what exactly do you mean by myth?" Pyrrha asked as she and the rest of team JPNR came up to the Mask Maker.

"It involves a story that was thought to be the assumed disappearance of the Mask Makers that preceded both me and my brother, Makuta, hundreds of years ago before we took up that mantle," he replied "It was thought to be myth as we never knew that this mask even existed."

"Until now that is," Lewa interrupted. "What is that mask anyway?"

"The myth called it the Mask of Dimensional Gates," Ekimu answered as he eventually began his tale.

* * *

" _Thousands of years ago, in the time before time, the island of Okoto was a much different place as to the state that it is in now. The inhabitants each wore their own masks of power, crafted from the elements that the six regions offered. Much like it was before the 'Great Cataclysm' that would later befall it, the island was a place of many wonders and beautiful landscapes._ _As I have briefly mentioned before, there were two Mask Makers that crafted masks from the six elements and passed onto the villagers. Both of whom possessed special masks that would later be passed down through the generations to both me and Makuta._ _The being that wielded the Mask of Creation was known as Artakha and the original bearer of the Mask of Control was named Karzahni._ "

Atop a long flight of stone stairs towards the front of a large building that seemed to somewhat resemble the shape of an anvil, two beings with two all too familiar golden masks in Okoto's legends gazed out into the distance and the City of the Mask Makers in the time before it lay in ruins. Artakha wore the Mask of Creation that would later be passed down to Ekimu in the generations to come. He was clad in grey greenish armour and had a variety of symbols that were littered across said armour with two gunmetal attachments to his upper shoulders. Karzahni's armour shared similar colours to that of the first, only his was more littered with spikes than symbols and the gold mask that he wore had two 'horn' like structures protuding down from either side, with some portions sharing symbols similar to those on the Mask of Creation.

" _Whilst peace and prosperity remained throughout Okoto through this era, a more sinister agenda lay within Karzahni's mind. He was far more ambitious than anyone could anticipate as Artakha himself would eventually discover._ "

As Artakha was talking amongst a crowd of villagers in regards to the creation of the masks of power, Karzhani had his back turned from them in a distant building of the city, his eyes flashing an unnerving bright yellow as he began to carry out whatever scheme he had conducted within the confines of his mind.

" _It all began with an unprevoked attack on the Temple of Time, leading to the discovery of a special mask being stolen from its vault to which the Protectors of that era were completely overpowered by their attacker."_

At a structure near the center of Okoto, Karzahni lashed out two chains from his arms, covered in flames at three of the Protectors, knocking them to the floor with scorch marks present on their armour. He then held out his hand towards the remaining three and began channeling the power of the Mask of Control, forcing them to the ground against their own will as he walked off down a corridor to a secret chamber. Shortly afterwards, a loud explosion was heard as the Mask Maker fled the vault of the Temple of Time, carrying a golden mask of a strange shape with him. A long while later, Artakha eventually arrives at the temple, horrified by the devastation that has unfolded as he approaches the Protector of Jungle, who slowly woke up.

 _"When Artakha discovered what had happened, he only had two clues to follow on. The first was from the assailant's armour, having recognized the description that he was given by the Protectors. The other was the theft of the Mask of Time._ "

* * *

"Hold up..." Jaune interrupted "You're saying that there's even a Mask of Time? As in like... time travel?"

"Yes boy," Ekimu answered "But its properties were not designed for that purpose. As I was saying..."

* * *

" _Taking into account what he had been told, Artakha having grave suspicions brewing within his mind, rushed back to the city and hurried towards the Forge of the Mask Makers. When he arrived though, his worst fears had all but been realized._ "

Artakha ran up the stairs towards the forge of the Mask Makers, ignoring the concerned and confused glances of the villagers that he had passed by on the way there. When he arrived inside the building, he was shocked to see several charts that seemed to depict the way that some kind of mask would be forged to the inscriber's ideal and on the floor beside the molten pit was the Mask of Time, or at least, a portion of it.

" _Looking through the charts that had been laid down and the half of the Mask of Time that had remained intact, Artakha left the forge and set out to find Karzahni to stop whatever scheme he had brewed within his mind._ _Eventually, he tracked the rogue Mask Maker to the city entrance, where he had in his possession, the now forged Mask of Dimensional Gates._ "

Stepping outside the forge and looking on towards the bridge that led out into the Region of Jungle, Artakha quickly ran down the stairs and hurried through the city until he was able to catch up with Karzahni, who turned around to face him.

" _It was here that Artakha had then realized the terrible truth about Karzahni. He had secretly been kidnapping several villagers that were close to the Protectors, for information about the Mask of Time and its properties in relation to space and time. Whilst the Mask Maker had already known that using the legendary mask to tamper with time itself would bring catastrophe to both Okoto and himself, altering the properties of space around him however was his end goal, so that he could rule all dimensions for his own twisted ambition. Karzahni had sought out the Mask of Time so that he could melt a portion from it to gain a sample of its powers and combine it with a mask that he had been previously forging with the power of more than one element._ "

After their conversation had ended, both Mask Makers drew out their weapons and prepared to brawl with one another. Karzahni held his signature flaming chains that he had used to previously attack the Protectors at the Temple of Time and Artakha simply drew out a large chrome hammer that was much bigger than the one that Ekimu had wielded.

" _Eventually, the two Mask Makers brawled throughout the city as Artakha desperately tried to reason with Karzahni to stop the madness he was trying to commit. But it meant nothing to the figure that he once considered brother. Karzahni donned the Mask of Dimensional Gates and attempted to rip open a hole in space and time to banish Artakha and anyone that stood in his way from Okoto. Only when he did..._ "

After the long fighting had broken out in the City of the Mask Makers, both Artakha and Karzahni stood on opposite ends within one of the streets, amongst wrecked buildings and several villagers that had observed the carnage that had broken out amongst the two of them from several piles of rubble. Karzahni removed the Mask of Control from his face and tossed it to the ground before placing the Mask of Dimensional Gates on as his own. Energy crackled through the golden mask before a beam of energy struck the ground from it, opening up a hole in the fabric of space and time that emitting a blinding white glow as Artakha shielded his eyes to avoid being blinded whilst the villagers hid behind the rubble. Eventually, after several long moments, the noise stopped and the light died down, leaving behind only the masks of Control and Creation and neither Mask Maker nor the Mask of Dimensional Gates in their presence.

" _When the chaos had eventually settled, both Artakha and Karzhani had simply vanished, leaving behind only the masks of Creation and Control along the villagers bewildered and horrified as to what had just happened. Saddened by the loss of two of Okoto's Mask Makers into the recesses of space and time, the villagers proposed that the next two in line would take up their roles whilst those that were caught in the chaos directly had chosen over time to dismiss the events of the catastrophe as simply nothing more than a myth and that unknown causes were responsible for their disappearence. The fact that Karzahni had melded all six elements into the Mask of Dimensional Gates which had resulted in its immense power had also brought upon the sacred law that a mask should never contain the power of more than one element due to the unpredictable results that could arise from it. A law that Makuta would later break himself in the creation of the Mask of Ultimate Power._ "

* * *

"And is where the story ends."

Everyone around Ekimu was silent as a breeze whistled across the front entrance of Beacon Academy, unable to think of a response to the tale that the Mask Maker had just told them about. More than the students that were currently present amongst the group, the Toa seemed somewhat speechless as to what they had just listened to. The fact that the golden mask that had brought them to Remnant in the first place was the same mask that was forged by a rogue Mask Maker who only sought to create and use it for complete dominance over the island and all dimensions, only for it to backfire on him and result in him and Artakha vanishing from the face of Okoto, much like they had only a few hours ago. A few moments afterwards, Ren was the first the break the silence.

"So... this Mask of Dimensional Gates that you're going to need to find the fragments for..." he murmured "It's the same mask made by this Karzahni?"

"Regretfully, I must confess that is the case," Ekimu replied "Right now, that mask when it is repaired will be our only chance to return to Okoto. If we do not, catastrophe is certain to befall the island because of our absence and who knows what will happen next."

"Then it is decided," Tahu declared boldly "We will search every last corner of Remnant if it means getting the fragments of the mask that will get us back to Okoto."

"That is... when Ozpin finds where the fragments have landed," Onua interjected "For now, all we can do is remain at Beacon Academy and wait."

"Onua's right," Ozpin replied "It's one thing to have searched across your own regions for the gold masks you're still wearing to this moment, but searching our entire world is another complicaton of its own. I will notify you when I, any of the staff at Beacon or any close acqaintances find the coordinates to the location of the mask fragments."

"I understand, Ozpin," Ekimu spoke "Much like Tahu has already done so, I will oblige to your offer for allowing us to stay at Beacon until the time comes."

The headmaster of the academy nodded in response to the Mask Maker's reply before leaving him and the Toa along with the group of students to themselves as he reentered through the front doors before closing them up shortly afterwards. Before any of them could make a move or speak out, Nora suddenly appeared in front of Ekimu, peeking around the Mask of Creation with intrigue much to his surprise.

"So this is the Mask of Creation?" she spoke in a rather hyperactive tone, briefly tapping the center protusion "What exactly does it do? Can it build whatever you want? What is with the symbols that we can see? Are they special in any way?"

"Young miss..." the Mask Maker replied "The Mask of Creation is not a toy. Whilst it is true that it can provide the user with the skill to create most objects, limited only by their imagination, the raw materials required for said creation are still a necessarity in its proper usage. Given that our kind is different from your own, I'm not sure if the masks of power may have desirable effects on humans or faunus."

"There's one thing that I just don't get though," Weiss murmured "How is it that we're having to deal with the undead from around here, let alone from Okoto."

"Kulta may have remained imprisoned since his defeat," Ekimu answered "But several legions of the undead still roam parts of the island and as Tahu and Onua have witnessed firsthand, right here as well. The reason being is that they are now minions of my brother, Makuta, whose dark power still flows through their bones to keep them reanimated."

"Quiet," Pohatu interrupted as he suddenly drew out his boomerangs "We've got company."

The group then suddenly heard a rustle and some scuttling from a pair of bushes nearby to where they were as they immediately drew out their weapons, prepared to face whatever threat was about to emerge at this very moment. Then a sudden shriek was heard as several large insect like creatures emerged from the bushes, each walking on four slender legs as the Toa and Ekimu tensed up, having recognized what kind of a threat they were. They were all the same size in a variety of colours including silver, dull whitish green and dark blue, some of them of the third colour having what appeared to be stinger like tails.

"Skull Spiders!" Gali exclaimed "We can't let them enter the academy halls!"

"Don't let them latch onto your face!" called Ekimu as he held out his shield for defense "Having one on for too long will make a victim a permanent slave to the Lord of Skull Spiders!"

"This day just keeps getting weirder," Yang muttered as she brought up her gauntlet like weapons to defend herself with.

The Toa and the hunters and huntresses in training stared down at the swarm of Skull Spiders that were advancing upon them, knowing that they would be back into another fight for their lives as they clutched their weapons tightly.

* * *

Elsewhere, inside of what appeared to be a rather disclosed location, Roman was stood in front of a table with a map of all of the stores that sold Dust around the Kingdom of Vale hung up on the wall behind it. Several locations had been crossed out from the previous use of a black pen to indicate those were the targets that he had previously conducted attacks on or rather had to avoid as one of them was noted for too high of security being present there to conduct an operation. Although the other groups of the White Fang with the exception of his own and one other had been successful in retrieving more Dust, his thoughts however were somewhat absent from the subject at hand.

The criminal's thoughts were mainly focused towards Gali, the Master of Water and the information that he had recieved about Pohatu before she and Penny had attacked him. The Toa was something else entirely, having known for a fact that despite her metallic appearance, she couldn't be from Atlas as far as he already knew, since he thought that the creation of sentient robotic beings from there was almost downright impossible. At least, to him it was.

"So I have heard there has been a disturbance in your... 'operation'."

Roman turned around to see a young woman whose height was slightly shorter than him, whose presence was enough to invoke a slight hint of fear, not that he was willing to show or admit that in the slightest. She had ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes whilst her fingernails were painted dark red. She wore a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs. A blue feather-like accessory lay on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ended in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.

She also had black shorts underneath her dress in addition to a black choker on her neck and wore a gold loop earring with a black gem dangling from it on her right ear. She has dark, glass, high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet on her right leg. On her upper back, in the 'keyhole' like shape of her dress, she had a black tattoo of what appears to be a pair of high heel shoes placed sole to sole, forming a heart shape inside. The young woman approached Roman slowly, keeping a collected smile on her lips as she did so.

"Cinder, what a lovely surprise to see you," he spoke, a slight hint of nervousness present in his voice "Our recent operation was not a complete failure this time around... We just had a..."

"Run in with someone?" she interrupted "Or rather, something."

"Yes," he answered "Someone by the name of Gali attacked my own group and forced us to retreat from the docks. I heard reports of a second figure like her forcing Taurus to pull out."

"So I was not misinformed," Cinder replied "The Toa have arrived."

Roman briefly blinked in confusion in response to the young woman's reply, wondering if she somehow already knew about the title that the Master of Water had went under. Even so, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of a name was Toa supposed to mean in his own opinion. Before he could speak out any further, he could hear footsteps from the front of the warehouse entrance, eventually seeing Emerald come into view. She was still carrying Mercury on her back, evidenced one of his metal feet being sawed off from Ekimu's shield and the ice surrounding her lower arm had finally melted off during their trek back.

"We can confirm that," the girl spoke "Attacking the Mask Maker brought out the Toa as you said."

"Though it did cost me a foot in the result," Mercury spoke out.

This had earned him a bump to his stomach from Emerald's now thawed elbow, much to her annoyance from having to carry him back to this location on foot for the entire journey. But that was the least of what was currently on her mind and she knew for a fact that had also went for her partner in crime as well. Cinder turned away from Roman and approached the two, noticing glints of uneasiness present in their eyes as she studied them closely.

"Your expressions seem... troubled," she spoke "Did something happen in your mission?"

"No, it's just that..." Emerald murmured "Well..."

"We came across this freaky shadow-like-thing in the woods on the way back here," Mercury interjected "I'm not getting a good vibe from just thinking about it one bit. He calls himself Makuta or something."

"Whoa there... hold on for a second," Roman interrupted as he approached the three of them "You're telling me, in addition to these Toa as you have called them... there are now shadows that supposedly come to life out of thin air?

"I know what we saw Torchwick!" Emerald replied in partial frustration before looking back to Cinder "Look, I don't know everything there is about this Makuta, but there's something about him that just seems very unnerving."

The young woman didn't seem fazed by this sudden news coming to light, evidenced by her calm and collected smile, remaining as it was much to the confusion of everyone else present. Then before Emerald, Mercury and Roman realized it, a cold chill suddenly ran down their spines as a pair of chains hanging from one of the gantrys above their heads suddenly began to rattle, despite the apparent lack of wind from all of the windows being sealed in their current location. Whilst the three of them glanced around to try and find the source of the disturbance around them, with two of them feeling somehow acqainted with a familiar sense of dread from before, Cinder simply kept her expression as it was, closing her eyes slowly whilst keeping her calm smile on her lips.

"I know that you're here," she spoke "There's no need to frighten my associates."

" **Your perceptiveness has proven most... intriguing...** "

Her shadow then suddenly extended backwards towards the wall of the warehouse, slightly to the right from the map of the kingdom of Vale that Roman had displayed. Whilst Roman could not believe his eyes, both Emerald and Mercury could not believe as to how Cinder had already known about 'him' prior to their report of his presence only mere moments ago. Then, the shadow that was painting a portion of the wall pitch black, two all too familiar dark red eyes appeared within the abyss before them, confirming only one thing that was currently on their minds. Makuta was here.

* * *

 **And there we go! After Ekimu explains about the origin of the Mask of Dimensional Gates to both the Toa and the students of Beacon Academy, they are soon quickly faced with an advancement of Skull Spiders that had also been brought to Vale. Meanwhile, Emerald and Mercury meet with Roman and Cinder to discuss about the findings of the Toa and their recent discovery of Makuta, only to find that their superior has somehow in one way or another already become acqainted with him, without their knowledge beforehand. What will unfold from this? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share your thoughts or leave a critique in the reviews and I'll see you again with the next chapter. Until then!**


	8. Reflection and Reserve (R&R)

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Masters of Remnant. Before I get into this next chapter, I probably should address something for one of my guest reviewers. Umarak the Hunter won't be appearing as this is set before Journey to One with some possible deviations from the G2 canon (and maybe RWBY's canon (possibly after Volume 3 or 4, the latter of which has yet to be released)) later on, the Toa using their elemental powers prior to their Uniter forms and eventually confronting Makuta at some point prior to future canon being some of them, but he may get an offhand mention in a later chapter. Other than that, I hope you enjoy what I have here.**

* * *

At the front entrance to Beacon Academy, both teams RWBY and JNPR along with the six Toa and Ekimu were all engaged in an all out brawl with the Skull Spiders that had approached them. Wasting little time, the hunters and huntresses in training, side by side with each of the otherworldly heroes and the Mask Maker dived headforth into the swarm that lay before them, determined to defend the academy itself and the students inside from possible harm. As three Skull Spiders leaped at Onua, he swung his hammer to the right, sending the smacked insects towards Nora who simply used her own hammer, Magnhild, to fire pink projectiles into them, shattering them into several fragments that fell to the ground, briefly saying "Boop!" as she did so.

Kopaka who stood in the center of the group, used his shield to deploy a barrier around himself and Weiss as several more Skull Spiders ended up bouncing off the shield. Nodding in agreement with each other, the Master of Ice lowered the barrier quickly, allowing the Schnee heiress to hold out her weapon in front, projecting a circular white glyph in front of the pair. Thrusting her left arm forwards, a white beam shot out from the glyph and covered over the insects, enscasing them in a formation of ice. Kopaka shortly afterwards used his spear to help Weiss in freezing the last of the Skull Spiders that were coming over towards them. When the danger facing them was stopped, the two looked back at each other.

"You certainly have grace," she said.

"As do you," he replied.

Meanwhile on another end of the entrance, Gali using her right hand in combination with her golden mask's power raised some of the water out of the fountain behind her before splashing it down on several Skull Spiders in her direction. When the small wave had passed over, Ruby who had reconfigured her scythe, Crescent Rose, into its gun mode and took the opportunity to shoot each and every one that was washed towards her, causing them to shatter into pieces. Blake and Yang had little trouble in dealing withe the Skull Spiders that came up to attack them, having either sliced or punched them down to the ground in pieces. Using both a sandstorm and a strong gust of wind, Pohatu and Lewa worked together to hurled several spiders into the air and eventually out of sight from the premises of Beacon Academy as the insects vanished over the edge of the cliffs in the distance.

Tahu on the other hand was busy aiding the rest of JNPR in holding off the Skull Spiders that were getting closer towards the front doors and windows. Jaune desperately shook his shield and sword before bashing them to the ground several times to knock off any of them that latched so that the Toa of Fire and Pyrrha could take care of them from there. After he had incinerated a few of the insects and took a step backwards, something suddenly caught his attention as he quickly rushed over towards a bush, noticing a slight glint of reflected light from there. This caught the attention of Ren who briefly glanced towards him as the Toa shuffled around through the leaves, eventually unearthing what appeared to be a red crystal.

"What is this?" Tahu murmured.

"That's red Dust," he replied before quickly shooting two Skull Spiders that attempted to latch onto him from behind whilst a third was bashed away by Ekimu's hammer. "That can be used in weapons and other instances to harness the power of fire, just like your golden mask."

The Toa of Fire stared at the red Dust crystal that he held within his right hand. Something felt rather strange from just holding it and it wasn't just from the elemental power that he had already wielded. It was if that power was somehow resonating with him for whatever reason he could think of. Then as if it was from pure instinct alone, Tahu suddenly crushed the Dust crystal in his hand, much to the shock of everyone around him as a bright orange aura suddenly filled up his entire body as he groaned loudly, trying to somehow feel used to the raw energy that had been given off from his action just now. The Skull Spiders briefly stopped their attacks as they looked towards the Toa whilst everyone else could only stare at him as he picked up his two large silver blades.

"I... CAN... FEEL... THE POWER!"

Upon finishing his loud speech, strained from the overwhelming energy that he had gained all at once from crushing the fire Dust crystal, he slammed his large blades down onto the ground, causing everyone else, Toa, Mask Maker and student present to leap out of the way and to take cover as a maelstrom of flames suddenly erupted across the entire front entrance, engulfing the remaining Skull Spiders in its wake and charring them to a charcoal black as they were incinerated in an instant. When the storm stopped, Gali quickly summoned more water from the fountain using her golden mask's power to douse the remaining flames that were still present on the grass and the hard pavement as Tahu then fell to his knees, completely drained as he panted heavily. The remaining five Toa quickly rushed over to him, upon seeing his drained state from the sudden experience.

"Are you alright?" asked Onua.

"I'm fine..." he huffed as he struggled back onto his knees. "That blasted crystal... it gave me more strength, but drained me of nearly all of it when I used it."

"So basically... you absorbed all of the energy that crystal had... and got drained afterwards," Jaune murmured, trying to better picture the scenario in his head.

"Still though, you think it wouldn't hurt to not hurl an inferno in our faces now, would it?" Lewa teased musingly.

"No kidding, you almost torched us!" Ruby remarked.

"There's still so much we don't know about Dust, aside from what Pohatu has told us," Gali interjected "For the moment, I think we are better off not touching any more Dust crystals until we know more about their properties."

When the chaos eventually settled, nothing but the shattered and charred remains of Skull Spiders that lay on the pavement were scattered all across the floor in front of the Toa and Ekimu along with both teams RWBY and JPNR. To the hunters and huntresses in training, with the exception of Jaune to a degree, defeating the first threats that the otherworldly heroes had to contend with in their home regions seemed rather easy. The minions of the Lord of Skull Spiders were swift to a degree, but not swift enough to escape the firepower of their weapons' firearm configurations.

"You think that's the last of them?" Yang spoke as she fiddled with her gauntlet like weapons, Ember Cecilia.

"For now, I believe so," said Ekimu "But this also brings grave concern. If more Skull Warriors and Skull Spiders were brought to Remnant because of the Mask of Dimensional Gates, I fear that the worst of our world has yet to come."

"You don't think Makuta could actually be here?" asked Blake raising an eye as she did so.

"I don't know..." the Mask Maker replied as he briefly looked to the ground, a hint of uneasiness present in his tone.

Blake along with both Pyrrha and Yang briefly glanced at each other, taking note of Ekimu's concern for the safety of their world, all because of a mask that was forged by the being that he had mentioned known as Karzahni. As the silence now continued onwards into the afternoon with only the chirping of birds and the breeze to acompany it, Kopaka stepped forward and looked to Weiss.

"What exactly was that 'circle' you brought up?" he asked.

"Those are glyphs, a shared semblance amongst my family" she answered "We can call upon these circles to aid us in combat. Now as for the Dust Tahu absorbed, I'd suggest taking and reading through this."

She then handed to the Toa of Ice a leaflet with the large words "Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals" in bold at the top and bottom of the front with a small graphic in the middle depicting a rather confused person, evidenced by the two question marks around the top right of the figure's head. Noticing a rather large passage of text in such a small size at the bottom of the leaflet, Kopaka used his golden mask's telescopic lens to zoom in his vision onto the single paragraph that was printed. The long passage of small text read out:

 _"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."_

"Well... this certainly gets to the point," he murmured as he walked back over to the other Toa.

"I forgot to mention," Onua spoke "Glynda said that she would be looking into accomodating a room for us."

"Perhaps we should go and see if she has come down to a decision yet," Pohatu interjected.

Everyone else present nodded in agreement as Tahu briefly staggered towards the front doors before finally being able to properly stand upright, leading the way back into Beacon Academy for them to follow him.

* * *

Back at the warehouse within the city of Vale, everyone present with the exception of Cinder could only remain still as they stared on into the dark red eyes of the shadow that was behind her. They weren't sure how their acquaintance had already come into contact with Makuta, let alone having seemingly become acquainted with him already, but the presence of the dark being before them had still left them feeling somewhat uneasy, partially from his low and deep tone. If Cinder had somehow managed to 'befriend' him prior to their own knowledge, then from what they had currently seen, it would appear to be wise to not anger either of them at this very moment. Emerald was the first to speak out from the trio.

"So... you already knew about Makuta..." she said, stifiling a small nervous laugh under her breath "I guess that clears that."

"Indeed I have," Cinder replied as she gestured a hand towards Makuta. "His own knowledge of the Toa and the other world that he has come from, or rather his presence, has proven to be most... intellectual."

"Come again?" Mercury murmured in confusion "What do you mean by 'presence'?"

" **My physical being has remained within the confines of the world in which I come from...** " the dark shadow spoke, his voice still giving off an ominous hint of authority amongst anyone within the group that was not named Cinder. " **However, that has not limited the capability of my own presence that is now before you.** "

"So in other words, you're sort of a ghost," Roman remarked "Your body's stuck in wherever it is you and these Toa have come from and you want us to do whatever dirty work it is you want."

Moments after the criminal had spoken out, Makuta's shadow immediately vanished from behind Cinder, only to subsequently reappear behind him in the form of tall black flames with hints of dark red to the fire and his ominous eyes reppearing amongst the mass. The sudden change in perspective had practically nerved Roman as he stared on towards the shadowy mass before him and the others.

" **I may lack a body to call my own...** " Makuta spoke " **But that does not mean I am incapable of harming you.** "

"Oh I wouldn't mind about Torchwick," Emerald interjected, partially from slight amusement of seeing the criminal's hint of nervousness before the presence of the dark shadow in front of her "Remove him from the equation and I can assure you that our group is perfect on its own."

"Not helping," he muttered under his breath, quietly enough for the others to not hear him.

"Enough."

That one word was enough for everyone else within the group to stop talking as they immediately turned their attention back to Cinder who walked up towards Makuta, now in front of the other 'associates' as she would have called them.

"Now that we are all here, I believe that it is best that I will go over the terms to our most recent acquisation of our partnership with Makuta," she spoke "We will work for each other on equal footing, but not one over the other. In addition, our priority for him in return will be to see to the fall of the Toa and his brother, Ekimu, either before or when the time comes."

"No problem," Mercury replied "Abide with you and tall, dark and creepy and we're cool."

Makuta gazed closely upon each member of the group, studying them closely with his red eyes becoming almost narrow slits as he did so. Whilst Mercury and Emerald had regained most of their composure upon hearing the details of the 'partnership' from Cinder herself, Roman however wasn't entirely convinced that he could consider working alongside him. He found his 'superior' tolerable enough when doing the necessary deeds for her schemes, schemes that he was still in the dark about, but Makuta himself seemed to be on a different level entirely. One that even he wasn't so sure was one that he could easily impress.

"Alright then... you have a deal," he said, sighing a little under his breath.

"There. That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Emerald mused.

At this moment, Cinder then turned away from the group and began walking away from the warehouse, but not before signalling for her two 'associates' to come and join her immediately. Emerald nodded in agreement and walked up to join her, whilst still carrying the partially crippled Mercury over her shoulder, leaving Roman alone with Makuta. Before his 'superior' left through the doors of the warehouse, she looked back at him.

"Until we return later, Makuta will be watching over any activities that you conduct here in Vale," she spoke "And I believe it will be of your best interest to not disappoint either of us Roman. Is that clear?"

"But of course," Roman replied.

And with that, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury all left the warehouse, leaving both the infamous criminal and the presence of Ekimu's brother on their own within the mostly empty room. As he looked back towards Makuta, his fierce and rather intimidating gaze fell upon him once more as the black and red coloured flames moved seemingly closer towards him.

" **Cinder's details were clear to you and I believe that this 'Dust' will be most valuable in our respective assests...** " the shadow spoke before vanishing into nothingness once more " **Do not fail us.** "

Roman simply said nothing in response as Makuta's presence eventually vanished from the warehouse, almost scowling under his breath as he did so. The criminal simply huffed as he turned around and went back to the table where he would lay out the foundations of whatever plan he would attend to next. He pulled down the map that he had previously displayed on the wall and placed it down on the table, looking for possible targets for where he could carry out his next robberies for the Dust that Cinder and Makuta had requested.

* * *

Meanwhile in one of the hallways of Beacon Academy, the six Toa and Ekimu were walking down a long corridor with several doors surrounding them from either side. Shortly after they had entered, Glynda and Ozpin had reunited with them and led the way to the dormitory rooms whilst both teams of students followed shortly behind. Eventually, the large group stopped in front of a door as Glynda approached each of the six Toa and the Mask Maker, handing them strange tablet like devices with a diamond like shape in the middle, each adorned with its own unique colour, presumably to intentionally harken towards the elements that they could wield and in the case of Ekimu, the colour of the shape for his device was a bright gold.

"So what are these things?" asked Tahu as he gently fiddled his fingers across the device he now held.

"These are Scrolls," she answered "They will be necessary to access the door behind me which leads to the room that you will be staying in, so I suggest you do not lose them."

"They'll also allow you to keep in contact with each other across Remnant and do some other cool stuff too!" Ruby interjected before looking at the door that Glynda and Ozpin stood in front of. "And from the looks of things, you're right next door to us!"

"We'll keep a reminder to visit when we can," Gali replied.

By the time she had finished speaking, Lewa out of curiousity was the first to activate his Scroll by gently pulling the ends apart until they could go no further, revealing a screen that was immediately displayed in front of him. Several images that seemed to depict folders appeared on the Scroll before a small box with several lines that would assume that there was text supposed to be there and a silhouetted image to indicate the profile picture of the device's user. Shortly afterwards, each of the other five Toa and Ekimu eventually activated their respective scrolls with Onua being slowest to do so, not wanting to break his by complete accident after only recieving it for less than a minute.

"This is quite the object," the Toa of Ice remarked as he glanced over what was displayed on the screen of his Scroll.

"You might want to wait until later when we show you how to use them properly," Yang interrupted.

"Well then, I suppose the only question that remains is do you have any further questions to your accomodations?" Ozpin asked.

The Toa looked at one another and shrugged for a brief moment, seemingly having no qualm with the headmaster's offer of the room that they were assigned to. They all shook their heads to confirm that they were seemingly fine with everything that they had for the moment.

"That is good to hear," he replied "Now, whilst you may be staying here as merely guests until we can recover the fragments for the Mask of Dimensional Gates, you are welcome to interact with my students in their day to day activities and attend any lectures if you feel that it will be beneficial to your stay in Remnant, once this year's semester has begun."

"I cannot thank you enough," Ekimu spoke "We will make the best of the situation with your kind means."

"Indeed Ekimu," said Ozpin as he looked back to the Toa. "Well now, I imagine from the battles you have all been involved with over this most eventful of days that all six of you must be tired out. Please feel free to take this time to get used to your new surroundings and rest up, for what may lie ahead."

And with that, he and Glynda left the Toa along with the Mask Maker and teams RWBY and JPNR in the dormitory corridor as the two went back into the main portion of Beacon Academy. Looking back to the door that lead to their room, they could see a small box like object with several thin grooves cut into it. Looking back at their Scrolls, still in their expanded forms and noticing that there was the lack of a keyhole of some kind present in the doorway itself, they could only assume that this was the lock in which they needed to place their devices to unlock the door. Pohatu approached the box and saw that his Scroll in its expanded form was too wide to fit into any of the gaps. Taking note of this, he instinctively, but gently pushed the two edges back together, until the device was back to the way it was previously before slowly slotting it into the middle gap. A clicking sound was heard, indicating that the door was unlocked.

"Well, that was easy enough," Lewa remarked.

Ekimu then went up to the door and began to open it from the handle. Before anyone could step inside, Tahu suddenly felt a tap on the back of his armour as he turned around to see Ren and the rest of team JNPR standing before him.

"Tahu, I just wanted to say... thanks for not ratting out Nora to the other Toa for earlier," he said.

"Complaining about what happened for any longer wasn't going to make things any better," the Toa of Fire spoke, huffing slightly under his breath "But at least she did her part in defending the academy from the Skull Spiders. That much, I can at least forgive her for."

"So are we cool now?" the aformentioned girl asked in hyperactive tone "Are you fine with what happened, even though you were supposed to get that mask made by tall, dark and gruesome Karzahni that I just happened to accidentally blast. Not that I already knew that you were supposed to get it so that you and the others could go back to Okoto but you get the idea anyway."

"... Yes..." Tahu replied, partially from having to absorb all of her fast-paced speech at once. "We're fine now."

The Toa of Fire then turned around to join his teammates and Ekimu as they stepped into their new dormitory room. It was around the average size of most other rooms within the complex that they were now within, with a window in the center of the wall at the far end and to everyone's partial surprise, despite the size that was available, it appeared that the staff at Beacon were successful in cramming two bunk beds, two smaller beds and a single larger bed into the room, presumably to account for both the number in their group and the size of Onua. As they stepped inside, Lewa immediately noticed the upper section of the bunk bed to the left of the window and immediately leaped up and on to it.

"I call this one!" he called out as he landed back first onto the matress, stretching out his arms and legs shortly after he did so.

The other Toa simply shrugged as they turned around to face team RWBY who remained just outside the doorway, watching them as they entered their new place of rest and relaxation.

"Well, if you need anything, we're just next door," said Ruby as she and other girls left the Toa and Ekimu to themselves. The six heroes simply looked at one another before gathering around in the center of the room as Lewa jumped down from his bunk to join them.

"So what is the plan now?" asked Onua.

"For now, we do nothing," Ekimu replied "There is still so much we don't know about Remnant along with the creatures that roam it and it would be best to learn as much as we can, before we can begin searching for the Mask of Dimensional Gates' fragments."

"And without this Mask of Time, I'm guessing that forging a second copy will be impossible," Gali murmured as the Mask Maker raised an eye at her suggestion "Not that you would want to break the law of the Mask Makers yourself unlike Makuta."

"Indeed," he spoke "But our hosts have proven to be most generous. It would only be wise that we'd show them our courtesy in return. Agreed?"

The others nodded as they eventually chose a bed that they would settle down in later for the night and lay down on each mattress to regain whatever strength they had exerted through their long travels and many encounters that they had been caught up in.

* * *

Next door in the room that team RWBY resided in, at first glance, it could be considered a possible mess, depending on that being's perspective. Unlike the two bunk beds that the Toa had placed in their own room, their four regular beds had been somewhat rearranged to somehow resemble the type to a small extent. One was suspended from the ceiling by several sturdy ropes with additional ropes holding a large white sheet over the top of it. The other was stacked on top of the other bed on the floor, using a pile of books on each corner to somehow keep it stable and prevent it from tipping over in any way possible. Whilst Yang, Blake and Weiss were stood on the floor, Ruby was up in the bed suspended by the ropes, seemingly attending to something on her own.

"Are you finished up there?!" called Yang.

"Just a second!" her younger sister replied before jumping down from the bed a few moments afterwards. "Just had to make a few adjustments, that's all..."

"What kind of adjustments?" Weiss asked as she gazed at her teammate closely, a hint of possible suspicion and curiousity present in her expression.

"You'll see the day after tomorrow... ***** " Ruby answered, grinning as she did so before looking to Yang. "So what is it you want to talk about?"

"It's about these Toa," Blake interrupted "They look almost robotic but at the same time, they have a conscious of their own. I wonder if the villagers from Okoto are almost like them in that regard."

"I think they're harmless enough," Yang replied "The fact they can wield some portion of the elements thanks to their golden masks and the fact they were willing to protect the academy and Velvet from Cardin means that Tahu was definitely telling the truth about where they come from."

"Well if you ask me, I think that green one might prove to be a bit of a nuisance," Weiss muttered, recalling about the cramped and uncomfortable experience from the elevator ride to Ozpin's office via Lewa's suggestion, much to her chargin and when he engaged Cardin on his own terms.

"He does have a name you know," Ruby murmured.

"I know that," she responded "And couldn't the Toa have ended just up here without having to drag along their mess with them?"

"I'm guessing you mean the Skull Warriors and Spiders," Yang interjected "But with how we've handled them as well, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm not sure if you've forgotten," the Schnee heiress continued "But Ekimu already mentioned there is worse."

The remaining three girls of team RWBY remained silent, knowing for the fact that Weiss was indeed referring to Makuta, not knowing that he was already present on their world for the moment, amongst other dark forces that lay out there, deep inside the darkness. Wanting to 'break the ice' on the tension that had suddenly risen as a result of their conversation, Ruby spoke up.

"Let's not worry about that for the moment," she said "For all we know, he might not have even gotten to Remnant at all. Right?"

"Yep," Yang replied "For now, we've got to prepare ourselves for the start of our second semester. Besides with the Toa now here, this could actually be an interesting year."

"That's right," the younger sister continued "Strange things have happened today, six heroes from another world have now joined us here, the days up to the start of our second semester are drawing to a close, but by the end of it all, team RWBY is sure to emerge with flying colours!"

Shortly after Ruby had finished her excited speech, the only response that she had recieved from her sister and teammates were a few blank stares, indicating that she would need a bit more practice in a rallying call.

"I'll probably work on that last part," she murmured, laughing nervously and scratching the back of head in embarrassment as she did so.

* * *

 **And there we go! As the Toa's first day in the walls of Beacon Academy draw to a close, the six heroes and Ekimu rest in their recently acquired dorm room to regain their strength, so that they may prepare themselves for what may lie in wait for them in the future. Meanwhile, Cinder leaves Vale with Emerald and Mercury so that Makuta can observe Roman's activities in her absence. What will lie in wait for the Toa and the students of Beacon Academy? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share any thoughts/critiques you have in the reviews and I'll see you all next chapter. Until then!**

 ***For those who have already watched Volume 2 from the start, I think you'll already know the surprise that Ruby had 'planned' out.**


	9. New Beginnings Part 1

**Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of Masters of Remnant!**

* * *

The very next day, as the sun rose high into the morning skyline from beyond the horizon of Beacon Cliffs, everyone within the academy walls, student and teacher alike were already wide awake and busy attending to their own matters. It was the second to last day that all of them had available to do whatever they wished before the brand new semester of the year began. One that would prove to a most interesting year at that from the untimely arrival of six otherworldly heroes and a Mask Maker into the world of Remnant. One such student emerged from her team's dorm, yawning briefly as she did so before closing the door to the room behind her. Yang stretched her arms out wide for a brief moment before looking ahead to see Gali exit from the dorm room that she along with the other Toa and Ekimu were sharing.

"Morning Gali!" she called, bringing the Toa of Water's attention to her.

"Hello Yang," she said, kindly greeting her presence "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yep," the older sister of Ruby answered "So how are the others doing?"

"Pohatu and Onua have gone to the library to find out as much as they can about Remnant," replied Gali "They believe that whatever we find may be useful for traversing the kingdoms when we later search for the mask fragments."

"I see," Yang murmured "You never know if they'll run into Blake reading whilst they're there."

"Lewa is currently with Team JNPR from what I saw," the Toa of Water continued "He felt eager to hang around with them and see if they would end up doing anything in his definition of fun."

"What about Tahu and Kopaka?" she asked. "I heard them grumbling after Ruby and Weiss left our room earlier."

"Well..."

* * *

At the amphitheater, a straight line of flames erupted across the stage floor as Kopaka deployed a barrier with his shield to block the attack that had been directed right at him. When the fire had expired, he lowered the barrier and stared back towards Tahu who had unleashed the earlier blast of fire as the two of them circled around the edge of the stage, waiting for one of them to make a fatal error that could determine the conclusion of the battle. Far from the edge, Ruby and Weiss along with both Ekimu and Glynda had been watching the bout very closely. The teacher was monitoring the closest she could get to an aura or vital statistics from Tahu and Kopaka throughout the conflict using her scroll.

"You can't block me forever," the Toa of Fire boldly stated as he pointed one of his silver blades in the direction of his opponent.

"I don't intend to," Kopaka cooly replied as he let out a blast of ice from his spear.

Tahu jumped clear of the Toa of Ice's attack as a portion of the stage that he previously stood on was frozen in a cluster of large ice crystals. He anticipated the Toa of Fire's landing spot and quickly shot out another icy blast from his lance to that portion of the ground. Tahu's right leg was instantly encased within the ice that formed the spot he tried to land on whilst the rest of his body fell to the floor front on. As Kopaka charged towards him, he used the silver blades he carried to channel a warm enough flame to melt the ice that was on his leg, allowing him to get back onto his feet and meet the Toa of Ice head on as he let our a loud and somewhat prideful battle cry as he ran towards the center of the stage.

The two of them clashed with one another as one swipe from Tahu's silver blades was easily parried off by Kopaka's spear whilst another was simply blocked by the large shield that he carried in his left hand. The Toa growled as they continued to trade blows with the weapons they they carried as each one tried to overpower the other in an attempt to win the battle that they were locked into. Everyone from outside of the stage continued to watch on from where they were standing, far out of range from both Tahu and Kopaka's attacks so no one would end up getting caught into the chaos by complete accident. Whilst Ruby continued to watch on with intrigue, mostly from just the Toa's own weapons and elemental powers, Weiss however had a different outlook to how things were seeming 'progressing' at this point.

"Honestly..." the Schnee heiress muttered as she watched both the Toa of Fire and Ice brawl amongst each other "I'll admit I was maybe 'a little' harsh on your leadership earlier in our first semester, but this is just ridiculous."

"I guess..." Ruby murmured, briefly shrugging her shoulders "Then again, it's probably just their way of deciding who's leader."

"They may be willing to put aside their differences in the face of greater threats, but when it comes to choosing amongst themselves for leadership, they still have much to learn," Ekimu spoke, almost sighing as he did so.

Their attention was briefly broken when they heard the doors to the ampitheater open up as Gali and Yang entered the large hall and came to join them as they watched the fight between Tahu and Kopaka continue to play out. The Toa of Water could only sigh as she palmed with her right hand over her golden mask, having had to previously break up their first brawl when they all had first met at the bridge to the City of the Mask Makers.

"In the name of all the elements..." she muttered.

"Well, they're sure going at it," Yang murmured as she saw Tahu and Kopaka exhcange blows with their respective blades and spear.

"That's enough!" came a voice from the other end of the stage.

The two Toa that were on the stage turned to see that it was Glynda who had called out loud to cease the battle that they were engaged in as they reluctantly put away their weapons and walked over towards the teacher.

"From what I have gathered from your 'demonstration' alone," she spoke "Your strength with the elements you wield has proven to be quite remarkable."

"So, does this mean you have a decision?" asked Kopaka.

"For the moment, I do not," Glynda replied "Strength alone will not determine leadership from amongst either of you two and I hope that you will learn in future endeavors that will be the case."

Both the Toa of Ice and Tahu said nothing in response as she turned around and walked over to the doors of the amphitheater to leave the large room. Before she did so, she turned around and pulled out a long thin stick like object from the holster of her boot, which extended to about three times its length. Glynda waved her object for a brief moment, causing a strange effect on the stage which caused the Toa and Ekimu to notice that both the scorch marks and the wet puddles from the earlier battle had seemingly vanished and that the floor of the stage had been reverted back to the way it was before the battle. Seeing that her work was finished, she turned around and exited the amphitheater through the doors.

"What exactly was that?" asked Gali.

"That was Glynda's semblance, telekinesis," answered Ekimu "Aside from fixing objects and entire areas, she can be quite adept with it, if what Ozpin has told me is true."

At this moment, both Tahu and Kopaka turned to Ruby who just looked back at them, curious as to why they decided to turn their attention to her. Deep within the back of her mind though, judging from the way they had been earlier in the morning, she had a feeling that she already knew the answer as to why.

"So Ruby, do you think either of us are suited for the role of a leader, the way we are now?" the Toa of Fire asked.

"Nope," she simply replied.

Her response had left both of the Toa slightly disappointed, but not downcast as they looked down at the floor for a brief moment.

"What?" murmured Weiss "She does have a point."

"We can worry about this later," Gali interrupted "Let's look for Onua and see what he's found out."

"You may go and do that," Ekimu spoke "For now, I have other matters to attend to."

And with that, Ruby and Weiss along with the other Toa left the amphitheater in one direction whilst the Mask Maker wandered off in the opposite path, towards the elevator that led to Ozpin's office. As the group walked down the corridor, one thing was on the minds of everyone present.

"I wonder how Lewa's doing..." murmured Tahu.

* * *

Outside of the academy from within a distant forest, Lewa ran and leaped across the tall and sturdy branches of the treetops, proving that his remarkable agility had not let him down since arriving to Vale and briefly brawling with Cardin. Ocasionally, he used the turbines on the blades of his lower arms to increase the height of his jumps or to allow him to fly across towards branches that would normally be far out of leaping distance. The Toa of Jungle seemed to be enjoying himself to the fullest as he felt almost at home with what it was that he was doing at this very moment. Only this time, he had someone else to join in on the fun.

"Windfly!"

Lewa briefly looked to his right to see Nora zoom past him thanks to her weapon 'boosting' her through the air from an earlier shot, evidenced by the brief pink trail of smoke from the barrel of the hammer before she landed on a nearby branch. He laughed musingly in response as the two of them continued to race through the treetops, hopping from branch to branch and occasionally 'gliding' through the air with a boost from the respective weapons that they were wielding.

"I'm not queen of the castle for nothing!" she called before pondering in mid flight "Though this is technically not a castle and actually a glade of trees."

"Then I guess that makes me king of the jungle!" Lewa replied as he leaped on ahead.

Down on the ground, the remaining three members of Team JNPR walked along the ground, watching the Toa of Jungle and their fellow teammate race each other through the treetops and seemingly having the time of their lives as they were doing so.

"Lewa and Nora are certainly having fun," Pyrrha murmured.

"Maybe a little too much..." Jaune interjected as he saw them race off into the far distance.

"True," Ren replied "But since there are no reports of Grimm inhabiting in this forest glade, they can let loose as much as they want without getting into too much trouble."

"Which I assume is a good thing," he muttered as he saw that both Lewa and Nora were now no longer in plain sight.

Pyrrha and Ren simply shrugged having been already more than well acqainted with their fellow teammate's 'behavior' and were quite surprised about how it alone had rather quickly allowed her to befriend the Toa that had joined them for the day. In a way, Nora's happy-go-lucky and bubbly personality seemed to compliment well with Lewa's outgoing and daredevilish outlook, even if his snarky sense of humor would sometimes be called into question. As the remainder of Team JNPR continued on through the forest glade, unbeknowst to the three of them, a pair of red eyes emerged from behind a large tree along with four skeletal like hands which clasped onto the trunk. The shadowed figure gazed upon Jauna, Pyrrha and Ren, before vanishing behind the tree immediately afterwards.

* * *

Meanwhile back at Beacon Academy, Onua was busy reading through one of various books that Pohatu had managed to pick out from several shelves within the library. Although progress had appearing to have been going slowly from their efforts so far, partially from the Toa of Earth's rather slow pace in reading through the first book that they had picked out so far, they knew that they were going to need all the knowledge they could get from whatever they found in both the library and any lectures they would choose to 'attend' when the semester would begin within two days from their current point in time. As Onua was finishing reading through a passage of text from one of the book's pages, Pohatu had stopped looking through the shelves and turned his attention towards some of the tables within the center of the room.

There, the Toa of Stone could see Blake as the only person being present in this portion of the library, seated at one of the tables with what appeared to be a holographic screen and keyboard that were laid out in front of her. Her gaze seemed to be very focused onto the screen in front of her, as if she was searching for something that had at least some importance to her and how it could aid her in whatever seemed to be troubling her at this very moment. The Toa out of curiousity decided to approach her and see what she was doing at this very moment.

"Hello Blake," Onua spoke.

"Onua, Pohatu," Blake greeted "What brings you here?"

"We were looking for information about Remnant's geography, for when we later search for the mask fragments," the Toa of Earth replied "Then we happened to find you here."

The huntress in training briefly looked back at what she had displayed on the holographic screen that was in front of her before looking back to both Onua and Pohatu, knowing that they were bound to be curious of what she was looking into.

"I'm assuming Gali and Kopaka told you everything about the White Fang?" she asked.

"Only that it's a faunus organization with rather extreme ideals and that one of Penny's friends was a former member," the Toa of Stone answered "But you seem to know a lot more about them."

Blake bit her lip for a brief moment. Part of her was hesitant to reveal more about herself and her own previous relations to the White Fang, prior to entering Beacon Academy in Team RWBY's previous semester. But thanks to a new friend from outside of the academy that she had recently made, she also felt that at the same time, perhaps it would be best for those that she had come to call friend could understand everything that she had been through up to this point in time. She briefly looked around the library to confirm that she and the Toa were the only beings that were present within the large room before turning around to face them.

"What I'm going to tell you, no one else aside from my teammates, a friend of mine, Penny and the other Toa will know," she spoke "And I also want you to promise me that whatever I tell you doesn't get out to Ozpin or anyone else."

Both Pohatu and Onua nodded in response, showing that they were willing to listen to what she had to tell them and that they would keep their word. Blake closed her eyes for a brief moment as she began to recount those certain events and what had transpired from them.

"I... am that 'former member' that Penny mentioned to Gali," she began "I had been part of the organization from a young age and up until recently. Before the White Fang fell under different leadership from around five years ago, which had resulted in the more radical views and the negativity drawn towards us, we were only fighting to opress the discrimination that faunus had and still continue to recieve from certain points of humanity."

"Then does this mean...?" Pohatu asked before Blake held out a hand to interrupt his question.

"Yes," she replied "Only a few know that I'm actually a faunus and I would prefer to keep it that way."

To prove her point to the two Toa, her black bow that was seemingly tied to her hair suddenly twitched which had immediately caught their attention. Remembering that Velvet had rabbit like ears from their first encounter with her and that she herself was also a faunus, they could only assume that this bow was being used to also cover up her own ears, so that she could hide her identity from the rest of the world. At the same time though, they could now understand the clear discrimination that existed within certain individuals such as Cardin who Lewa had brawled with on that same previous day. Taking note that the White Fang had been using radical means to achieve their goals and that Gali had informed them that Roman Torchwick had been working with them, Onua could now see why Blake was feeling so uncomfortable about discussing this personal subject.

"As far as we know, you're not the kind of person who would spread terror to others around you for your own benefit," the Toa of Earth spoke "Even if you're somehow different from other human beings, you still have a good heart. The fact that you've already come this far in Beacon with your friends and helped us defend the academy from Makuta's threats should already show that."

"To tell you the truth," she continued "Part of me is kind of envious of the seven of you, including Ekimu. You all are different from us, even from anything that Atlas' technology has to offer in terms of your metallic appearance and yet, you haven't even recieved an ounce of backlash from anyone other than Cardin because of what you look like."

"We don't even know if that will be the case around the other kingdoms of Remnant," Pohatu replied.

"And you shouldn't have to feel that way," Onua interjected.

Blake at this point started to feel less on edge in talking openly to the Toa that were with her at this very moment. She was glad that they were at least clearly understanding everything she had been through up to this point in time, including her previous affliation with the White Fang prior to her defection.

"I appreciate the two of you taking the time to listen," she said before looking back to the screen in front of her "But if you wouldn't mind, I'm a little busy in trying to see if I can track down any more leads as to what the White Fang or Torchwick are up to."

"Then we can only wish you the best of luck," Pohatu replied.

Blake merely nodded as she turned her attention back to the screen and keyboard in front of her as both the Toa of Stone and Earth walked back to the table where they kept the pile of books that they were searching through.

* * *

At the edge of the forest glade, the sound of rustling leaves grew louder as both Lewa and Nora leaped out and emerged from the maze of trees before managing to land on the ground at the exact same, coming to a stop from their own unique 'poses' as they looked out into the wide grassy plain that stood before them. Looking at each other with plenty of energy still running wild, both laughed almost in sync with each other as they stood still to catch their breaths from the racing that had been going on through the glade of trees.

"I guess we'll call it a tie there," the Toa of Jungle spoke.

"I can live with that," Nora replied "I mean, it's not like a big deal or anything."

Before Lewa could speak any more words, a beeping sound suddenly rang out from her Scroll as she pulled it out from her pocket and fiddled through some of the settings. She suddenly found out that it was a notification that she had gotten from Ren, evidenced by his profile picture as she then tapped an icon that appeared to resemble that of a play button, which seemed to indicate that he had sent her an audio recording.

"Nora...!" his voice cried "Could you and Lewa hurry back here?! We're having a little trouble with something that sounds pretty insane!"

Realizing that his tone sounded very troubled from the fast pace of his speech, both Lewa and Nora realized now that this was no longer the time for playing around and that they had to help their friends. The Toa of Jungle quickly drew out his silver blades that were stashed on his back and crouched down slightly.

"Hop on!" he called "We'll get to them quicker if I fly us there!"

Nora not needing to be told twice jumped onto Lewa's back and held on tightly to his shoulder armour as the turbines on the blades attached to his lower arms immediately sent the pair into flight as they soared back into the forest glade. For the next minute or so, they backtracked down the path that they had raced down through the treetops, having managed to somehow recall their 'route' almost perfectly until they eventually came to a stop. There they could see that all three of the remaining members of JNPR were unconscious, with several marks present on both Jaune and Ren to indicate that they had been caught up in a fight of some kind. Landing just before the three of them, the Toa of Jungle and Nora quickly went over to them as they slowly began to stir from their previous state.

"What happened?!" asked Lewa.

"... A Skull Warrior with four arms and what looked like a silver Skull Spider on his face blindsighted us and took our weapons," Pyrrha replied as he clutched the back of her head in pain.

Immediately afterwards, the five of them suddenly turned around to the sound of loud maniacal cackling that was not far from them before they could hear several shots going off from where the source of the noise was coming from. Upon recognizing who or what the laughter had come from, Lewa gazed on into the distance of the glade of trees before turning back to the only member of Team JNPR who had not been attacked.

"Nora, keep an eye on them," he said "I've got a score to settle if I'm gonna get back your team's weapons."

Nora happily saluted in response to acknowledge the Toa of Jungle's request as she began attending to Ren first whilst he walked on towards the direction that he had heard the mad cackling come from.

"Wait Lewa!" called Jaune "Who exactly is that?"

"Far as I know, he goes by the name Skull Slicer," the Toa of Jungle replied "He and I have some unfinished business to take care of."

And with that, he leaped off into the distance to confront the foe that had taken all but one of Team JNPR's weapons for itself. The rest of the team with the exception of Nora could only watch on as Lewa disappeared amongst the treetops, hoping that he would be able to handle himself just fine. If this 'Skull Slicer' had some previous history with the Toa of Jungle, that had served to only increase their concerns. Ren kept a sharp gaze in the direction that he had gone in, knowing that as long as he was weaponless, there was nothing or the others could do with their current head injuries.

* * *

Ekimu continued on his journey through the hallways of Beacon Academy over to the elevator that led to Ozpin's office. He wasn't exactly sure why, but when he passed over the entrance to the elevator, he could sense something was seemingly not as it was. The Mask Maker knew that it whatever it was that was raising his suspicions by the minute, perhaps the headmaster of Beacon Academy himself would know the answers that he sought. Little did he know was that his chance would come sooner than he expected. Out from the doors to the elevator, the man in question stepped out into the hallway before stopping in front of Ekimu, noticing his expression at this very moment.

"Ekimu," he greeted "What brings you here?"

"Ozpin," the Mask Maker spoke "There is something I wish to discuss with you."

"What would that be?" the headmaster asked.

"Every time I have passed the doors to this elevator," he explained "I have sensed a strange energy that seems to be emitting from the shaft. No one else, not even one of the Toa have sensed this either, so I can only assume that I can because of the Mask of Creation. I wished to know that if you knew anything about this."

Ozpin remained uneasily silent for a brief moment, having hoped to not discuss about this subject to anyone from outside of his own group at this point. But he knew that with Ekimu's immeasurable wisdom from his own world, trying to lead him off would prove to be rather futile. Looking around the hallway to see that no one else was in plain view or a position to be listening in from, he turned his attention back to the Mask Maker.

"Come with me," he spoke "I will be willing to explain everything, but until the time is right, I must ask that whatever I'm about to show you cannot be revealed to the Toa or anyone else within Beacon."

Ekimu nodded in response and acknowledgement as Ozpin then lead him to the elevator, opening up the doors to allow them to step inside. Pressing a button at the bottom of the selection available, the doors to the elevator closed as both felt it begin to descend as they began to travel deep underground. Eventually after a minute or so with only the whirring to accompany the silence that followed, the elevator stopped and the doors opened up, allowing them step into a vast corridor that was dimly lit by wall-mounted torches that casted a pale green light. There appeared to be other branching paths from either side, but they were obscured by complete darkness to tell if that was really the case.

As the Mask Maker and the academy's headmaster walked halfway down the corridor, the man stopped and turned to the shorter being.

"Before I reveal what lies at the end of this vault," he spoke "There is a story I must tell you if you are to understand everything here."

* * *

 **And there we go! As the Toa settle into their first day around Beacon Academy, Lewa rushes off to confront Skull Slicer who has taken all but one of Team JNPR's weapons after previously racing with Nora through the treetops. Whilst Pohatu and Onua learn about Blake's true identity as a faunus and her previous connections to the White Fang, Ekimu confronts Ozpin about the strange energy he sensed with the Mask of Creation and is about to come across one of Beacon Academy's most guarded secrets. What will occur from all of this? Find out next time on Masters of Remnant. Please share any thoughts or critiques you have in the reviews and I'll see you all next chapter! Until then!**


	10. New Beginnings Part 2

**Hello and welcome back everyone! Before I go into this chapter, I must warn you that it will contain spoilers to Volume 3 despite being set way before that point. Other than that, I hope you enjoy what I have here.**

* * *

Lewa walked slowly through the large glade of trees that surrounded him at this very moment as he continued his search for Skull Slicer, who was bound to be in possession of the weapons that belonged to Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren. Ever since he left the three attacked members Team JNPR in the care of Nora, the Toa of Jungle had hoped she could help them recover whilst keeping up her own guard in case the four armed Skull Warrior had decided to go back and attack her as well. Treading carefully into an open space within the forest where only a relatively large grass plain, surrounded by the many trees that lay around both him and said space, he clutched ahold of his silver katana like blades tightly as he stepped forth.

Suddenly, a rustle of leaves caught his attention as he quickly glanced around the treetops that were around him, trying to catch the culprit in the question. A rattle soon followed afterwards as Lewa turned around just in time to see an orange two pronged claw, attached to a chain of the same colour, hurled in his direction. The Toa of Jungle leaped clear to avoid having it latch onto any part of him, especially his golden mask, having been unfortunate to have been acqainted with it this way once before. He looked up to see the claw being reeled back to the owner that was in question. That owner which he could finally identify as the undead being known only as Skull Slicer.

Unlike the Skull Warriors that Tahu along with Teams RWBY and JNPR had previously fought fought with at the entrance to Beacon Academy the previous day, aside from the four arms in addition to the silver Skull Spider mask that he was wearing, Skull Slicer's skeletal ribcage and upper limb bones glowed an eerie green colour. Two bits of armour were present on the upper limbs of the two upper arms, one being dark grey with a silver spike sticking out from it and the other being orange with a larger grey attachment on it. A pair of red eyes shone through the Skull Spider mask as the undead figure gazed upon the Toa of Jungle who took a defensive stance in order to steel himself for what was to follow.

"Thought I'd find you like this!" Lewa called "The same trick won't work twice!"

The maniacal Skull Warrior simply cackled loudly in response, leaping down from the branch that it stood on before both he and the Toa began circling each other across the grassy plain.

"Not much of a talker, right?" he mused.

Skull Slicer simply let out another cackle from underneath the silver Skull Spider mask before putting away his orange chained claw whip and bring out into each of his four arms, both of Ren's, Pyrrha's and Jaune's blades to arm himself, a clicking noise having been heard from three of the weapons. When three of the blades changed shape into more gun like configurations, Lewa tensed up for a brief moment and instinctively leaped clear as the undead figure began shooting at him, forcing him to leap from point to point on the ground as he eventually leaped up to the branch of the nearest tree he could find.

The Toa of Jungle didn't have time to relax however as he quickly had to leap from branch to branch in order to avoid getting shot down as he then landed back onto the ground and took cover behind the trunk of one of the surrounding trees. For a moment, Skull Slicer stopped shooting as Lewa peeked out from where he was hiding to see him leap high into the treetops and somewhat out of sight. Not being able to see the four armed Skull Warrior from where he was at the moment, he took the same initiative and leaped up into the treetops so that he could remain level with his opponent. The maniacal laughter that followed on from there had only served to make Skull Slicer all the more easier to find.

Eventually, Lewa caught sight of his opponent, just in time for him to jump out of the way of several shots that had been fired in his direction as he landed on a branch nearby him from behind.

* * *

Back in the dark corridor far beneath the tower of Beacon Academy, Ekimu and Ozpin remained as they were, almost perfectly still from what the headmaster said that he had to tell the Mask Maker if he was to understand what was apparently being kept down here from prying eyes. Ekimu wasn't sure about why this would have any impact as to what he was about to discover within this dimly lit chamber, but having noted the earlier tone of uneasiness from Ozpin's voice when they had conversed earlier, perhaps it would be of importance for him to listen carefully to this story that he was about to be told.

"Very well then Ozpin," he spoke "I am willing to listen to this story that you've mentioned."

"That is good," the headmaster replied "What am I about to tell you has only been viewed by many in Remnant as a simple, yet somewhat famous fairy tale. It has been told in many different forms, but always follows near identical scenarios. Yet the people that have been mentioned within have existed long before."

"Then begin, if you may," he continued.

Ozpin nodded with a somewhat grim demanor as he briefly adjusted his glasses before stepping forward towards Ekimu, ready to tell this story that would some meaning towards what he was going to show the Mask Maker.

"Thousands of years ago," he began "There lived an old hermit who lived in seclusion from the rest of the outside world around him. He was visited individually by four maidens, each of whom expressed their kindness to him in their own unique ways. These maidens were known as Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The old hermit, moved by their kind efforts and gratitude, bestowed upon these four girls incredible power which in turn marked them as the embodiments of Remnant's four seasons. The maidens then departed from the hermit, promising to return each and every year to visit their dear friend."

"So these maidens have the ability to manipulate the seasons of this world?" asked Ekimu.

"Indeed," Ozpin answered "And as such, a small group was established to ensure that common knowledge of their existence would fade into myth so that their powers would not fall into the wrong hands. The four maidens have passed down their powers through the generations through a somewhat complicated process. When one of them passes away, the last person within their thoughts usually inherits their power unless they are not eligible, male or too old to control such raw energy. If the person the maiden last thought of fell into any of those three categories, the transfer will randomly go to one that does not follow those three conditions. I sincerely doubt that even a Toa or a being such as yourself would be an exception to that rule."

The Mask Maker remained silent for a moment, taking everything into account that the headmaster of Beacon Academy had told him in regards to the story of these four maidens and why their true existence was being kept out of the public eye. Now believing that whatever Ozpin had intended to show him at the end of this corridor had something to do with the maidens that had now been confirmed to be a reality, he knew that there had to be a reason that the human in front of him wanted him to keep this information and whatever he was about to learn away from the ears of the Toa or anyone else within Beacon for that matter.

The headmaster then turned around and briefly gestured for Ekimu to follow him as the two of them continued down the long dimly lit corridor until they reached the very end. They now stood before a strange machine of some kind with two containers, each labeled "001" and "002" respectively and between them were three computer terminals, each one having a screen installed. Two of them were smaller and were attached to the two containers whilst the larger one had lay in the center of the apparatus that was stationed at the end of the corridor. The Mask Maker approached container "001" having noticed it was raised from the ground at an angle and peered into the viewport.

To his shock however, he could see a girl with a light brown complexion along with short, straight brown hair and a beauty mark below her left eye whilst wearing a white tube top and a white skirt. Her state seemed somewhat comatose to say the least as she remained motionless inside of the container. Ekimu slowly stepped back as he turned around to face Ozpin, seeing that his expression had gone equally grim.

"That is Amber, the current Fall Maiden," he explained "Some time ago, she had been attacked by a mysterious assailant who intended to take her maiden powers for themself. An associate of mine managed to save her, with a portion of her power having already been taken away, resulting in this comatose state."

"Then this machine must be the only thing that is keeping her alive," Ekimu murmured as the runes on the Mask of Creation glowed dimly, presumably from resonating with the remainder of Amber's power.

"If the Skull Warriors and Skull Spiders were only some of what could have arrived in Remnant from your world..." Ozpin spoke.

"Then I fear that would only be the least of our problems," the Mask Maker interrupted "Only they were present with us when we left Okoto, but other potential dangers could have also been brought to Remnant. The Lord of Skull Spiders, Kulta, my brother or even the ancient Dark Hunter, Umarak. If Makuta was to discover the four maidens and the elemental power of the seasons that each of them possessed, then I couldn't imagine what he would intend to do with such raw energy."

"Indeed," the headmaster replied in a rather grim tone "As of this moment, only you, Glynda, Amber's rescuer, myself and an old friend know about what lies down here and it is all the more imperative for you to ensure none of this spreads to outside the walls of this vault."

Ekimu simply nodded in response, having now fully understood of why Ozpin felt unwilling to discuss the subject intially, especially when given the circumstances that he had brought up surrouding Amber's condition and why anyone would desire to inherit it for themselves. With grim resolve, he knew that even the Toa could not know about this, at the risk of the Fall Maiden's assailant discovering the vault's location through them somehow and claiming the remainder of her power for whatever scheme they intended to use it for.

* * *

Back in the forest, Lewa and Skull Slicer traded blows with the blades that they carried as they hopped across the treetops from branch to branch in an attempt to overpower one another in the midst of their struggle. The Toa of Jungle also had to contend with dodging bullets from Ren's weapons that the four armed Skull Warrior had wielded in his lower two hands, with a few having already caused dents and grazes in portions of his armour. Though he was thankful for the moment that his armour could take the brunt of such fast and fierce attacks, he knew that it wouldn't hold out for long and that he couldn't keep on dodging Skull Slicer's attempts to shoot him down either.

Recalling that he was within an environment that was best suited for his elemental powers, he decided that now was the time to get back on the offensive by taking advantage of what he had around him. Lewa put away one of his two blades and held out his right over towards one of the branches that Skull Slicer was leaping towards as his golden mask gained a bright green aura to it. The timing was perfect as the branch suddenly flung itself upwards into the four armed menace, smacking right into him and causing him to fall to the ground. Noticing that he dropped all of the weapons that he was carrying in the result, the Toa of Jungle used the turbines of the blades on the lower portions of his arms to swoop down to Skull Slicer, kicking him in the chest and grabbing the blades of Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren whilst he still had an opportunity.

By the time the two had reached the forest floor, Lewa had put the recovered weapons back into a pile and used the power of his golden mask to create a cage of small, but thick vines to prevent Skull Slicer from stealing them again. But the four armed Skull Warrior wasn't completely disarmed yet. Cackling maniacally, he brought out two shields that the Toa had recognized which belonged to Pyrrha and Jaune respectively along with two completely different blades from the stash behind his back. Deciding to change up his approach to the fight now, the Toa of Jungle brought his two swords out and threw the blades on the lower portions of his arms into the air, combining both weapons into two larger axes.

Holding out the larger portions of his newly formed axes in front of him, the turbines activated which stirred up a strong gust of wind that blew right in the direction of Skull Slicer, who simply held out Jaune and Pyrrha's shields in front of his silver Skull Spider mask to prevent himself from being blown right over. Calling off the wind, upon seeing that it was useless to him in this situation, Lewa charged forwards towards his opponent who used the shields to block all oncoming strikes that he threw his way before taking the chance to use the blades in the lower arms to slash down the front of the Toa, knocking him backwards in the result.

As Skull Slicer cackled madly, Lewa's gaze sharpened as he tried to look for a way to disarm the four armed menace of the shields that he carried. Hearing a rustle come from behind him, he looked back for a brief moment to notice where the noise had come from. Then from the bushes, a yellowish spectral figure suddenly ran from out of the bushes and rushed towards Skull Slicer and rammed right into him, exploding on contact and knocking the Toa of Jungle's opponent onto his back. Deciding to take up the opportunity whilst his opponent was down, Lewa used the turbines of his 'axes' to summon another gust of wind to hurl Skull Slicer high into the air and cause the four armed Skull Warrior to fall to the ground, dropping the two shields in the result.

He hurried over to the shields and collected them from the ground as Skull Slicer got back up onto his feet and simply snarled in response before leaping off into the treetops once more and out of sight. The Toa of Jungle walked back to the vine cage and used his golden mask's power to unsheath the blocking vines so that he could collect up the remaining weapons and return them all to the mostly injured Team JNPR.

"Those were some pretty sweet moves you had there."

Lewa looked over to where he had previously gazed at the bushes, now seeing that in front of him stood a tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and dark-grey eyes. He wore two red wrist bracers and an open loose collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his rather muscular physique. The boy also wore blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt along with white bandages on his legs and had a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants. He sports black and yellow sneakers and wears a twisted golden necklace around his neck, with a round pendant bearing an emblem resembling a monkey, much like the tail from behind him, the colour matching that of his hair.

"Let me guess, that 'ghostly' yellow figure that exploded into Skull Slicer. That was all you, right?" the Toa of Jungle asked out of curiousity.

"Must be a weird name for that creepy looking guy," the figure mused "But yeah, that was all me with that Semblance clone."

He then walked up to Lewa, glancing over his armour, weapons and various features as he had not been familiar with him, Ekimu or any of the other five Toa beforehand.

"So who or what exactly are you?" he asked.

"The name's Lewa, Toa of the Jungle," Lewa replied "And you are?"

"Sun. Sun Wukong," the boy answered as he shook hands with the Toa before noticing the pile of weapons beside him. "You must be really desperate if you wanted all of those."

"Nah, they belong to some friends of mine," the Toa of Jungle snarkily answered "Four-arms sneaked up on them and took them for himself. Thanks to you, I'm now gonna get them back to their owners. And then it's straight back to Beacon Academy for us."

"Wait a minute," Sun interrupted "You're at Beacon?"

"Yep, along with the other five Toa and Ekimu," said Lewa "Know someone there?"

"A good friend," the faunus answered "You'll find out when you mention my name there."

The Toa of Jungle then stashed his silver blades onto his back and attached the larger blades back onto the lower portions of his arms as he picked up both the weapons and shields that belonged to Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren.

"Well then, I better get these back to my good friends," he said "Can't exactly keep them waiting!"

"If you're staying at Beacon, I can assure you we'll see each other again soon Lewa!" Sun called.

Lewa waved back for a brief moment before using his turbines to take flight and soar through the treetops of the forest glade to search for Team JNPR so that he could hand back the weapons and shields back to the injured team members. He knew Nora was more than capable of holding her own against reasonable threats, with Skull Spiders and certain Grimm definitely fitting under the term "reasonable". But at the same time, he felt it was best not to dawdle on his way back and help out her teammates as quickly as he could.

* * *

A few hours later when the sun had eventually begun setting over the horizon, Lewa and the whole of Team JNPR began walking side by side back through the front entrance to Beacon Academy down the hallway. Whilst Nora had been unharmed throughout the whole adventure that they had, the Toa of Jungle still had some grazes and dents in his armour from the earlier fight and he knew that there were others that had it worse than him. Jaune, Ren and Pyrrha were physically better than they were when the Toa had found them, but the bandages that were wrapped across their heads were enough to indicate that it would take some time before they could recover from the surprise attack of Skull Slicer, whose whereabouts at this time, no one knew the answer to.

Shortly after a few minutes of walking, they parted ways as Nora took the rest of her teammates to the infirmary so that they could recover more easily from there, leaving the Toa on his own. Later in the evening, Lewa eventually came across Ruby, Yang and Weiss walking alongside Tahu, Gali and Kopaka as the two groups came to a stop within the middle of the corridor.

"What happened to you?" asked Ruby, observing the recent damage to his armour.

"Skull Slicer to be exact," he answered "He sneak attacked all of them but Nora and took their weapons."

"The same 'thing' that took his mask?" Gali pondered.

"Definitely," the Toa of Jungle replied "I got them back with a little help from a faunus called Sun, but four-arms got away."

"Then we'll need to be more careful," Kopaka interjected "We already had enough trouble with you losing your mask once before and my sense of direction wasn't the cause then."

Whilst the Toa of Ice was speaking with Lewa about the subject, causing Tahu to raise an eye at the mention of his 'sense of direction', Weiss could only sigh for a brief moment as she muttered under her breath, catching the attention of her teammates.

"You're not still sore about what happened when we first met Sun, right?" asked Yang.

"No," she replied "It's just... taking some time to warm up to the idea that he's not as bad as I made him out to be. The fact he helped Lewa today has somewhat eased my earlier doubts."

Before anyone else could add anything of value to the current discussion, a voice echoed out through the corridor that they were currently standing in over an intercom of some sort. They immediately recognized whose voice it was, with some of the group having talked to that person earlier in the day.

"Would all six Toa and all students please report to the amphitheater?"

"Looks like that's our cue," Ruby murmured.

"Right then," Tahu replied "Ekimu will probably be with Glynda as well."

And with that, the Toa and the three members of Team RWBY walked down the corridor towards the Amphitheater, wondering exactly what kind of announcement that Glynda had to give to them and the students of Beacon Academy.

* * *

Over at the destination in mind, a large crowd of students were gathering outside of the stage at the far end of the large room as Onua, Pohatu and Blake entered the Amphitheater, having also heard Glynda's announcement a few moments earlier when they had exited the library. The three of them were curious as to the sudden request for all six Toa and every student in the academy to gather all at once, though each of them seemed to share equal opinion in that whatever it was she wished to address was important for Beacon Academy itself and that it would be best to attend at once.

Up on the stage nearby the wall, Glynda oberserved the students that were entering the Amphitheater, keeping a trained eye on the Toa of Earth and Stone before looking to the doorway, just in time to see the remainder of Team RWBY along with Tahu, Lewa, Gali and Kopaka enter the large room. Turning around, she walked over to both Ekimu and Ozpin who were standing behind her previously.

"I appreciate taking the time to set up this announcement Ozpin," she spoke before looking down at the Mask Maker "But I'm still uneasy as to the idea that he knows about the Vault. Does the general know about his existence?"

"I understand your concern Glynda," Ekimu replied "But I can assure you that word of my knowledge will not spread to anyone else. If the dark forces that attacked Amber or Makuta were to know of the Vault's existence however, then I would fear the worst for Remnant."

Ozpin coughed for a brief moment to bring the attention of the two to him as he stepped forwards towards the edge of the stage. Looking over towards the students that were still engaged in conversations with each other, Glynda stepped forwards and raised her voice.

"Quiet please!" she called out, silencing the crowd in an instant.

Everyone turned their attention towards the front of the Amphitheater, seeing that Ozpin had walked up to the microphone that stood at the end of the stage in front of him as he gazed upon each of the students and Toa that were now standing before him. Ekimu remained stood where he was on the stage, knowing the role that he had to play in this announcement that the headmaster would give to his students.

"My fellow students," Ozpin began "As some of you have already seen, much has happened in these last two days leading up to our next semester. Events have transpired, bringing several new faces into our academy walls to join us, alongside the exchange students we will recieve from afar when the new semester begins. But first, I must introduce you to the wise figure who has joined our new guests in their arrival to Beacon. So for now, I will now introduce you to Ekimu, the Mask Maker."

Ekimu walked up to the front of the stage to join the headmaster as a majority of the students who had not been acqainted with him beforehand simply stared at him, having not expected him to have this kind of appearance, partially from his height in comparison to that of an adult to be precise. Ozpin briefly kneeled down to bring down the stand of the microphone to the height of the Mask Maker as he looked out to the crowd before him.

"Students of Beacon," he spoke "Whilst the circumstances surrounding both mine and my companions has proven to be rather strange indeed, I can assure you that we do not intend to bring harm to any of you. We will stay within this academy as guests until we are able to find a way to return back to our own world. A majority of you may be wondering who those individuals I have travelled with may be, serving under the elements they possess and the Three Virtues of our world. Unity, Duty and Destiny. Therefore, it will be my honour to introduce all of you to the Toa, six legendary heroes from beyond your time and world, each powered by the energy of Okoto's elements."

Ekimu looked over towards Tahu, motioning for him to come up towards the stage. The Toa of Fire simply walked over towards the front of the room as each of the other five Toa followed suit as the Mask Maker began a roll call for each of their names.

"Tahu, Toa of Fire," he began.

Tahu hopped up onto the stage and turned around to face the crowd of students that he was now standing in front of. He could see that the whole of Team RWBY was amongst said crowd and that Team JNPR was absent, no doubt from Nora keeping an eye over her teammates' earlier head injuries from Skull Slicer earlier in the afternoon. As the other Toa joined him on the stage, Ekimu continued list off their names, one by one.

"Kopaka, Toa of Ice. Pohatu, Toa of Stone. Gali, Toa of Water. Onua, Toa of Earth. And finally Lewa, Toa of the Jungle."

Whilst four of the remaining Toa had simply climbed up onto the stage, Lewa with a mischievous glint in his eyes turned around and leaped backwards through the air, flipping over backwards as he did so before landing perfectly on his feet, almost as if he was posing as he did so. Pohatu and Kopaka simply gazed at him for a brief moment with the Toa of Ice shaking his head for a brief moment.

"Well you're no fun as always," Lewa mused snarkily.

"This isn't the time Lewa," Pohatu muttered under his breath.

"Pohatu's right," Kopaka interjected sternly "We're not in the right place or time giving off a 'performance' right now."

"When you three are done arguing, focus on what's in front of us," Onua interrupted as the three of them looked out towards the crowd of students that were in front of the stage.

"I present to you, the saviors of Okoto and your new guests," Ekimu concluded.

And with that, the crowd of students erupted into cheers from nearly everyone present at the Amphitheater, with a notable exception being from Cardin's group as the bully glanced over towards Lewa. But all of that was overshadowed by the seemingly positive atmosphere that was now throughout present throughout the rest of the academy as Ruby and Yang clapped amongst the crowd to congratulate the Toa for a successful introduction to their home. And somehow, the leader of Team RWBY was more than eager to find out what could happen for the semester she had ahead, now that the six heroes were amongst them.

* * *

 **And there we go! From here on in, we now begin crossing right into RWBY's canon, starting with the very beginning of Volume 2 for the next chapter. For now, I've hope you've enjoyed Masters of Remnant thus far and are looking forward to more in the future. Feel free to leave any thoughts or critiques in the reviews, don't be afraid to drop suggestions for where you would like the story to go and I'll see where I can go from there. Until then, I'll see you later in the next chapter of Masters of Remnant.**


	11. Best Day Ever

**Hello again everyone! Apologies for the long wait, but I now welcome you back to the next chapter of Masters of Remnant, starting with the very beginning of Volume 2 in terms of time of events. Before I go in, I'll need to address the answer to a question that a Guest reviewer has left in my absence on this story**

 **Ghostly Ghost (Guest):** I got one Question. How big are the Toa, Ekimu, Skull Spiders, Skull Warriors and Makuta? Same size as a human?  
 **Answer:** Well Ghostly Ghost, I've partially addressed this in a previous chapter, but for the sake of fully addressing it, I'll go over it now. Gali and Lewa are around the average height of the adult human with Pohatu being a little shorter, Tahu and Kopaka being a little taller and Onua being the largest of the Toa (going by the depictions in the 2015 web animations and the Graphic Novels) somewhat dwarfing them in both height and broadness. Skull Warriors are around the same height as Gali and Lewa, the Skull Spiders being just larger than the feet of the Toa (not counting their legs), Ekimu is around Ruby's height and Makuta... it depends on what area he can manifest his presence as.

 **With that aside, I hope you enjoy this chapter being a retelling of Volume 2's very first episode.**

* * *

Within the streets of Vale, an old man was stood atop a ladder beside the front entrance to the shop that was named 'From Dust Till Dawn', hanging a sign declaring its re-opening. This particular shop had proven to be a popular spot for Dust robberies as of late until a certain individual had gotten in the way of the last one which resulted in her studying at the institution she now found herself within. As the elderly shopkeeper climbed down from his ladder, he stumbled in the middle of his descent and fell straight onto the street below. Emerald who had been walking along the street earlier appeared next to him, giggling in almost an innocent and somewhat playful tone.

"Excuse me, sorry. I'm not really from around here," she said as she helped the shopkeeper to his feet "Would you mind pointing me in the direction of this shop?

She showed the shopkeer a piece of paper with writing on it and the shopkeep looks it over. After studying the exact text carefully from what he had been given, he nodded in acknowledgement and pointed her in what was assumed to be the direction of the location that she had been seeking out. Emerald walked away from the shopkeeper as both waved goodbye to one another and she disappeared behind a corner in the direction that she needed to go, meeting with Mercury over at said corner.

"I knew you were lost," he snarkily mused.

"Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up," she muttered before producing a wallet with Lien and waving it in his face.

"That's not your money," Mercury remarked, having known who it had belonged to.

"But it can be yours for 5 minutes of silence," Emerald retorted.

"Mmmm... no deal," he replied.

"Fine," she sighed as she took the Lien and tossed the wallet, turning to walk away.

"Whatever. You want me."

Mercury and Emerald continued to walk through the city towards their destination in mind with the information that the old shopkeeper of 'From Dust Till Dawn' had provided them with. The pickpocketer's partner in crime gazed across the various buildings they passed by, his expression indicating that he was rather close to losing his patience from how long that the two of them were walking for, just to find this one place that they had in mind.

"So, how much farther?" he asked.

"A few blocks," Emerald simply replied.

"Ugh..." groaned Mercury "This place is so dull."

"Eh, I kinda like it," she murmured to herself "Tall buildings, diverse culture..."

"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket," he interrupted, the comment of which had caused Emerald to pause in her footsteps.

"That's every city," she dryly remarked.

"Ooh, Emerald! Master thief!" Mercury called out in an almost scared tone, though she could easily tell apart the sarcasm in his voice "Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!"

Emerald in response to his little 'impersonation' simply glared towards him and groaned angrily before proceeding to walk away from him and onwards towards their destination. Mercury, seeing as his partner had not been so easily amused by his attempt of 'humor' dropped his mood quickly and rather suddenly to his almost 'bored' persona from mere moments ago through his earlier comments about the city of Vale.

"Ugh... you're no fun today," he muttered under his breath as he followed Emerald through the streets.

Eventually, the two of them came up to and entered inside of a shop full of books. The shop owner behind the counter could be heard humming a tune. Mercury stops near the door to look at books while Emerald approached the counter and rang the service bell that was located there.

"Be right there!" a voice called from near the back of the store.

Emerald looked back at Mercury as the shop owner came through a set of double doors whilst carrying stacks of books as he walked backwards and out toward the counter.

"Welcome to "Tukson's Book Trade", home to every book under the sun!" he greeted as he set the stacks down before looking up to the counter. "How may I..." Turning around, he gasped and paused in the middle of his speech as if he had somehow immediately recognized both of Cinder's associates from before. By this point Mercury was now holding a book in his hand.

"How may I help you?" the shopkeeper, known as Tuskon asked once more, upon regaining his composure.

"Just browsing," he replied as he shut the book that he was reading.

"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of "The Thief and The Butcher"? asked Emerald.

"Yes we do," answered Tuskon.

"That's great," she replied

"Would you... like a copy?"

"No, just wondering," she said as Mercury closed up another book that he was reading "Oh, oh! What about "Violet's Garden"? In paperback?"

"He's got it," her partner in crime interjected before reading yet another book that he picked up "Hardback too."

"Ooh, options are nice," she mused.

"Eh, no pictures," Mercury muttered as he closed up another book "Hey! Do you have any comics?"

"Near the front," Tuskon replied.

"Oh, no, wait!" Emerald interrupted "What... about... "Third Crusade"?"

The bookstore owner suddenly froze up at the mention of that title, feeling somewhat unnerved by the fact that they had knowledge of that specific title. Mercury and Emerald eyed him carefully, taking note of his hidden, yet somewhat panicked expression.

"Um... I...don't believe we carry that one," he spoke.

"Oh," Mercury muttered as he closed yet another book.

"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked in a somewhat unnerving tone.

"Tukson's Book Trade," Tuskon replied defiantly.

"And you're Tukson?" the pickpocketer questioned again.

"That's right," he answered.

"So then I take it that you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?"

"Yes."

"And, what was it again?" asked Mercury.

"Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," Tuskon said objectively.

"Except the Third Crusade," he interjected.

"It's just a catchphrase," the bookstore owner replied.

"It's false advertising!"

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson," Emerald spoke as Mercury activated a switch near the entrance causing a front window to darken. "I hear that you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo. Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that. And neither are we... You know who we are, don't you?"

As the expert pickpocketer spoke those words out aloud, now exposing Tuskon for who he really was and what he was planning to do at this very moment in time, Mercury, one by one, activated the remaining two switches which caused all of the remaining windows at the front of the store to darken completely as he gazed upon the bookstore owner and former White Fang member, sneering as he did so.

"Yes," Tuskon replied in response to Emerald's question.

"And you know why we're here?" she asked once more.

"Yes."

"So... are you going to fight back?"

"Yes!"

Tukson produced claws straight from his fingers and leapt atop his counter in a somewhat threatening manner as he glared down at his supposed 'pursuers'. Mercury and Emerald backed up slightly in response before the faunus shopkeeper leapt at the expert pickpocketer in an attempt to slash at her. She immediately dodged out of the way as Tuskon looked forward in surprise as he stared at Mercury who was now in front of him. The last thing that the bookstore owner ever saw was his attacker raise one of his legs for a kick with the shotgun-greaves that were on his boot.

A bang sounded throughout the store from outside, but no one was seemingly present within the streets to overhear it go off as Mercury and Emerald exited the bookstore, having finished what they came there to achieve. The expert pickpocketer stretched her arms overhead whilst her partner in crime was carrying a comic.

"What's with that?" she asked.

"I like the pictures," he replied.

As the two walked down the street and away from 'Tuskon's Book Trade', a certain mass of darkness had been oberserving the whole 'incident' as his red eyes become sharp narrow slits before he vanished into the shadows of the nearest alleyway once more.

* * *

Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, Team RWBY were sitting together at a table inside the cafeteria as Blake was looking over some notes. These include the White Fang insignia, a possible picture of Adam Taurus, and Adam's rose. Yang then slid up across the table until she was right next to her teammate, glancing over shoulder in an attempt to find out what she was reading at this very moment.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked.

"Nothing," Blake replied calmly before closing up her book "Just going over notes from last semester."

"Lame," she muttered before then catching a grape in her mouth that was tossed in her direction.

From the other side table across from where Team RWBY were sitting, Nora giggled as she continued to toss grapes at Yang with her spoon. She caught the fruit with ease, giving the JNPR member a thumbs up. Ruby walked into the cafeteria and with an enormous heave, she hauled and slamed a binder onto the table, catching everyone present off guard. On the cover of the binder was written "Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee", which appeared to have been hastily crossed out with a red marker pen and a new title "Best Day Ever Activities" had been written underneath as if to take the previous title's place. She cleared her throat before looking to her teammates.

"Sisters... friends…" she addressed "Weiss."

"Hey!" her aformentioned teammate called out, clearly annoyed from just being addressed that way.

"Four score and seven minutes ago," Ruby continued "I had a dream."

"This ought to be good," Yang murmured before catching another grape in her mouth immediately afterwards.

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!" her younger sister declared.

Weiss looked over across the front of book, immediately recognizing what book that as evident from the previous text that Ruby had hastily attempted to cross out in order to replace the title.

"Did you steal my binder?" she asked as she gazed questioningly at her teammate.

"I am not a crook," Ruby replied as she made a 'peace' sign with both of her hands.

"What are you talking about?" muttered Blake.

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!" she answered in an excited tone as pointed at her teammate.

"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang!" Yang interjected with equal enthusiasm "Eh? Guys? Am I right?"

Her excitement however was cut short as an apple was tossed right towards her and hit her right in the face dead center. She glares at Nora, knowing it was her who had thrown it at her to begin with, leading the JNPR member to respond with an annoyed "Boooooooooooooooo!".

"Look guys," said Ruby "It's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students along with the Toa and Ekimu arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store," Weiss offhandly muttered.

Yang, still glaring towards the opposite end of the cafeteria, picked up the apple that had been thrown in her face moments earlier and tossed it across the room, intending to hit Nora back. However, a different student yelled "Hey!" and Nora was simply giggling, indicating that her aim was way off from what she had originally intended.

"I don't know," murmured Blake "I think I might sit this one out."

"Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!" Ruby interjected enthusiastically.

"I got it!" Nora called out, though no one was currently taking notice of her at the time as Weiss stood up from her seat to state her own opinion on the subject.

"I for one think that…"

The Schnee heiress was suddenly interrupted in the middle of her suggestion by a pie having been hurled across the room and landing on her face. As her teammates looked to the opposite end of the room, they could see Nora standing up whilst the rest of Team JNPR was sat down. She sat down frantically and pointed at Ren who had his head held in his palm whilst Pyrrha held her hand is over her mouth and Jaune simply sat staring wide-eyed while covering his ear with his palm.

* * *

Outside of the cafeteria, oblivious and completely unware as to what was currently going on inside, Sun was walking alongside the building alongside a human with tan skin, dark blue eyes and messy light blue hair that was shaved on the sides and in the back in the form of an wears a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned, black collar and a pair of gray jeans with black padding strapped to the sides with the back displaying a silver reticle. He wore black shoes that were fastened with straps, rather than laces and other notable accessories that he wore included black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggle on his forehead.

"Man, that's harsh," he spoke.

"I know, we were fighting side by side," Sun continued "She was super fast and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome."

"Nice!" his friend replied with intrigue.

"Right? And the best part is, she's a Faunus," his friend concluded "But that's a secret, okay?"

"Got it."

Sun leaned close to his friend to make an indicator clear in order to stress the importance of 'Blake's' secret, having known of it from her before Onua and Pohatu had done so recently.

"And not a, "I'm gonna go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back secret", I'm talking secret secret," he continued.

"Whoa, chill out, man, okay? I got it," he replied before changing the volume of his tone to almost a whisper "I got it."

"You better."

As Sun and his friend walked past the cafeteria, the two for the moment were seemingly oblivious to the number of students that were running around the area at this moment or rather what was going on inside the room for that matter. Food splattered into the panes of the windows as they walked past whilst they didn't notice that Jaune shortly after was splattered into yet another window, the noise of impact having not caught their attention. Yet.

"I just don't want to screw this up, you know? The people here are the coolest!" Sun proclaimed with excitement "No offense to you guys."

"None taken," his friend replied.

"Four of them are just in here," he said "I don't know where the fifth is for the moment, but I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?"

"Dude," the human replied as he let out a smile which was wide enough to cause his teeth to gleam from the sunlight.

"Good point."

Before they could make their way to the front entrance, they could suddenly feel a breeze whistle through the air as they looked up to the top of Beacon Academy's buildings, just in time to see that Lewa was flying around the area on the blades mounted to his lower arms. The Toa of Jungle soared down and spiralled around the tall tower that was home to Ozpin's office, briefly catching the headmaster's attention for a moment before he resumed his work. Lewa saw Sun and his friend near the front of the cafeteria amongst the students running around the grounds before flying down and landing in front of them to greet the two.

"Hey there!" he called.

"Ah Lewa, good to see you again," Sun greeted "This is my pal, Neptune. I'd thought I'd show him around before the semester began tomorrow."

Neptune looked closely at the Toa of Jungle, studying his features carefully much like any human or faunus that were meeting any of the six Toa or Ekimu for the first time. He had been told by Sun beforehand that they had not come from Atlas as first percieved, but the faunus himself had not known anything in regards to their origins along with as to how they arrived at Remnant and came to stay at Beacon Academy for the time being.

"So you're one of these Toa Sun was telling me about last night," he murmured "I must say, you're… different from what I imagined. But with that out of the way, it is nice to meet you."

Lewa shook his hand in greeting to Neptune before the two of them followed Sun towards the front entrance of the cafeteria.

* * *

When the three of them had entered through the front doors of the cafeteria, they looked around them just in time to see a large crowd of students 'stampeding' past them, screaming as they were running as fast as they could away from whatever was going on in the large hall. Needless to say, the Toa of Jungle, the faunus and the human would get their answer as to what was going on at this moment in only a matter of seconds.

"Food fight!" one of the students cried out, the 'title' of which seemed to catch Lewa's interest.

"What is this?" he pondered "Some kind of game?"

More students continued run out through the front doors past Lewa, Sun and Neptune, the latter two of whom appeared to be quite worried. The Toa of Jungle appeared to be rather intrigued about the whole 'event' that was taking place as the three of them entered the large hallway that was the cafeteria, just in time to see what kind of chaos had unfolded whilst they were chatting outside, followed by the maniac laughter at the far end of the room. Team JNPR were standing atop a tower of tables that had been stacked together in a ramshackle manner of some kind as Nora finished her laughter.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" she called out in a sing-song like fashion.

At this moment Ruby who had already gotten up onto the top of the table stomped her foot down to stand her ground, crushing a carton of milk in her hand, all whilst saying out loud to issue her response to JNPR's challenge "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!"

"Yeah!" the whole of Team RWBY called out loud to now issue that their little 'game' had only just begun.

"Now this I can't miss out on!"the Toa of Jungle called in excitement before tossing his weapons over to Sun who caught them, albeit almost dropping the blades in surprise as he ran towards the confrontation at hand. "Mind if I cut in!"

As Team RWBY simply looked towards Lewa, confused as to why he seemed intrigued to participate in the food fight that was about to start seconds from now, they didn't have time to question his decision as Nora finally gave the signal to lay down the gauntlet to her team's now five opponents.

"Off with their heads!" she declared.

Nora jumps down from the top of her tower and from that very moment, the food fight between both teams and the Toa of Jungle had begun. Team JNPR grabbed a ridiculous number of watermelons that were present at the base of the tower and began throwing them at their opponents.

"Yang! Turkey!" called Ruby.

Yang then picked up two turkeys from the ground and used them like gloves to punch through the barrage of watermelons that were sent flying her way. Whilst the remained of Team RWBY dodged as many of the watermelons as possible, Lewa simply leaped out of the way of those that had been sent his way. Just as Jaune was about to pick up another one, the Toa of Jungle focused the power of his Golden Mask onto it. The watermelon then exploded right Jaune's face, knocking him back towards the base of the rambleshacked tower of tables and benches that Nora had hastily made earlier.

When the onslaught of watermelons had eventually reached its conclusion, Blake then leapt in front of her Yang and picked up two baguettes, presumably to use in the place of her usual weapons in that sort of manner. Yang then threw her turkeys at Pyrrha, who dodged out of the way and grabs a single baguette, leaving Jaune who by then had only just recovered from Lewa's earlier surprise attack to take the blows as he was knocked back down once again.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Blake were busy dueling in a one-on-one fight using only the baguettes that they were holding in the same manner as their respective sword like weapons that were currently within their weapon lockers. After clashing for several moments, Blake attempted to disorient Pyrrha with the shadows that were created by her semblance, but her opponent however was not so easily fooled. The JNPR member knocked her back across and threw three more baguettes towards Yang, with the last knocking her down as well. Lewa jumped past the two fallen members of RWBY and picked up the two baguettes that had hit the floor to use as his own weapons for the battle ahead as he charged towards Ren.

Ruby used a food tray to slide towards Pyrrha across the table and hit a baguette back at her with the same tray. The JNPR member manages to dodge the shot, but is unable to stop the opposing team's leader from knocking her backwards with the same food tray. Ren broke free from his clash with Lewa and then alongside Nora charged at Ruby, but Weiss jumped in front and sprayed ketchup across the ground. Seeing his chance to get a one up on the battle, the Toa of Jungle tossed one of his baguettes towards Ren before he had a chance to stop in time, causing him to slip over the ketchup that the Schnee heiress had sprayed and crashed into a group of tables which were launched into the air because of the impact.

Seeing that some of them were flying towards him, Lewa clutched ahold of the other baguette he held and using his mask's power again, he spun around rapidly to create a small, but powerful whirlwind to send some of the tables flying off in other directions. Nora jumped through the remaining tables to grab a metal pole and attach a watermelon to it, giving her own weapon of choice that was more suited for her use. She swung her new 'hammer' down at Weiss, but Ruby leaped in front to take the hit instead, the force of theimpact knocking her down to the floor in the result.

Weiss grabbed ahold of a swordfish and engages Nora in a one-on-one duel, blade to hammer. Despite her best efforts, partially from previous experience in wielding Myrtenaster, she found herself outmatched in trying to keep up with the hyperactive JNPR member as with a swing of her hammer, Nora sent her opponent flying right into a pillar, knocking her out and causing the pillar to begin to break apart. Before the pieces could crush Weiss, Ruby jumps in and saves her, just in time to avoid being crushed by a few of the larger pieces. The leader of Team RWBY held her partner close in her arms as the rest of the pillar collapsed around them.

"Weiss, Weiss!" she cried, almost to the point of sounding melodramatic to some "Don't leave me! Nooo!"

"Ah come on Drama Queen," Lewa interrupted as he passed by the pair "This is just getting interesting!"

The Toa of Jungle was so busy being playful in his endeavors and enjoying the whole 'competition' to himself so much, that he was being rather careless compared to earlier. A fact that he found out for himself as he felt a massive swing from Nora's hammer hit him right in the back with enough force to send him flying into the tower of rambleshacked tables and benches which came crashing down on him shortly after he crash landed into the base of it.

Yang grabbed two more turkeys and engaged Ren, who wielded a pair of leeks as his makeshift weapons of choice. He found himself quickly overwhelmed by her reflexes and ended up taking a lot of hits before being sent a few meters into the air by an uppercut. He recovered quickly from the impact of the direct hits and throws his leeks at Yang. She managed to easily dodge them and proceeded to finish Ren by jumping high enough to punch him toward the floor, knocking him out. Nora intervened immediately afterwards and sent Yang flying through the roof with her hammer, but in doing so, she had destroyed her only weapon in the process.

Blake having got back up to dodge the falling debris of the roof with another fragment being hurled away by a small gust of wind that had been summoned up by Lewa, who had managed to climb out from the collapsed pile of tables and benches. Silently thanking the Toa of Jungle, she grabbed a link of sausages, she whipped it at a disarmed Nora, throwing her against two soda machines. These leak some soda cans that the JNPR member threw at Blake, who manages to dodge them all. Pyrrha then procceeded to use her Semblance of polarity on the puddle of soda, causing all the soda cans on it to rise after both Blake and Lewa, the RWBY member being knocked out after being barraged with soda whilst the Toa had briefly taken cover to avoid being hit by the rest.

Ruby, the last remaining member of her team, used her Semblance of speed to dash through the food court as fast as she could go, causing everything to follow her through the tailwind caused by her overwhelming speed. She spins like a torpedo, creating a hurricane of food that come backs at JNPR, knocking all four members out and sending them crashing into a nearby wall, causing it to crack in the result. As Lewa was swept towards Ruby's twister, using his mask's power once more, he then spun as fast as he could in the opposite direction, causing his whirlwind to collide with the gust of wind. The two opposite spins counteracted each other, sending both the leader of RWBY and the Toa of Jungle flying through the air and causing them to land on their feet.

"Just you and me..." she said, trying to catch her breath.

"Yep..." he replied "You're not so bad yourself..."

Both of them panted from being nearly overwhelmed by the clash of wind that they had just been through, with Ruby's uniform and Lewa's armour having been covered in food and soda that had landed on them in the midst of it being pulled in by the 'gale-force' winds that had swept through the whole cafeteria. Over by the front entrance, Sun was somewhat concerned from start of the fight, but had actually been impressed since he now got to see his friends in action once more, even if they didn't have their proper weapons on hand whilst had been keeping a hold of the blades that had belonged to the Toa of Jungle.

"I love these guys," he said, feeling somewhat pleased with actually being around to witness the food fight.

Neptune however was less than pleased from what had just happened, having been drenched with soda in the midst of the food fight after a can or two had gone leeway and struck him directly earlier in the chaos. Before anything else could happen, the doors behind them opened up in an instant and Glynda enters the room growling whilst behind her, Gali and Onua followed sharing somewhat equal disdained expressions through their eyes as they looked at the chaos at what had unfolded before them. The Toa of Earth turned his attention to the huntress, mentally noting that with Lewa and Ruby now staring off, the food fight could resume at any moment if none of them took any action at this moment.

"May I?" he asked.

"If it will stop this childish brawl at least," she replied, a hint of annoyance being present in her tone.

Seeing that he had been given permission, Onua brought out his hammer and raised it above his head before slamming it down onto the ground with all of his raw strength. The impact was so powerful that it was enough to not just send a large crack across the cafeteria floor, but it was also powerful enough to knock the caught off-guard Lewa and Ruby into the air before falling back down again right onto their backs. Moving aside in a friendly gesture, the Toa of Earth watched Glynda step in front and proceed to use her telekinesis to re-organize the room, causing objects to fly around the dazed and confused figures in the middle of the cafeteria, undoing all of the damage that had been in the midst of their brawl and Onua's action to call off said brawl. When she was finished, the Toa of Jungle and both teams looked to the doorway.

"Children... and Lewa, please," she spoke harshly as she adjusted her glasses "Do not play with your food!"

Shortly after she had scolded the lot of them, Nora burped aloud as both Teams JNPR and RWBY along with Lewa tried and fail to compose themselves. A screaming Yang then crashed from the ceiling into one of the tables and bounced off, landing right on Toa of Jungle's back. Glynda grumbled as Gali could only shake her head and sigh under her breath, muttering to herself as she did so. Ozpin approached the pair from behind and placed a hand on the huntress' shoulder.

"Let it go," he spoke.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world," she sighed.

"And they will be, but right now they're still children," Ozpin replied as he looked back at his students "So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll get to have forever."

"Which is more than could be said for Lewa," Gali murmured, sighing as she did so "Washing his armour isn't exactly going to be either of our definitions of 'fun'."

"From what I see, he was only wanting to join in on what was percieved as harmless fun," he spoke "There will be a time when he must put all of that aside though."

Both the huntress and the Toa of Water however could only sigh as they along with Onua looked back at the cafeteria to see everyone that had been involved with the food fight get back up on their feet and unite as a whole group once more.

"Well, it was fun whilst it lasted," Lewa remarked smugly.

And everyone around him along with Sun, with the exception of everyone else at the doorway, laughed heartily in agreement.

* * *

Back at the warehouse, the White Fang were busy moving crates around and onto a Bullhead, presumably for aerial transport at this very moment. Roman was busy looking over the map that he had drawn several markings over in a red pen earlier, in regards to how he had been planning to carry out his Dust robberies for both Cinder and Makuta. Strangely though, he didn't find the thrill of performing such heists as 'exciting' as usual, presumably because of the presence of Ekimu's brother could be lurking around anywhere within the shadows, waiting to spring on him or anyone else if he was feeling displeased. As he was contemplating over this turn of events, he saw Emerald and Mercury enter the warehouse and walk up towards him.

"Oh, look! She sent the kids again!" he called bemusingly before wrapping his arms around the two, almost in a group hug sort of fashion. "This is turning out just like the divorce!"

"Spare us the thought of you procreating," she muttered as she and Mercury pulled away from Roman.

"That was a joke," he remarked "And this... just might tell me where you two have been all day." He then produced a piece of paper in his hand, the exact same one that the shopkeeper of 'From Dust Till Dawn" had scribbled on earlier in the day which had the exact directions to Tuskon's Book Trade.

"What!?" Emerald exclaimed in shock before realizing what had just happened in the midst of the 'group hug' moments ago. "Agh..."

"I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something," Roman boasted before holding up the piece of paper that he had taken from her "Why do you have this address?

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she muttered.

"Yeah, I would," he remarked "Now where have you been all day?"

"Cleaning up your problems," Mercury spat "One of them, at least."

"I had that under control," Roman protested.

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise," he replied.

"Listen, you little punk," the criminal threatened "If it were up to me, then I would take you and your little street rat friend here and..."

"Do what, Roman?"

Seeing that he had just been interrupted by an all too familiar voice, Roman turned his attention upwards to see Cinder appear on a platform above them. She stepped forwards onto an automated lift, riding it down to their level.

"I'd, uh... not kill them?" he said nervously.

"Cinder!" Emerald called in a somewhat excited tone.

"I thought I made it clear that you would eliminate the would-be runaway," she spoke sternly.

"I was going to..." Roman muttered.

"He was going to escape to Vacuo!" Emerald interjected "Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat."

"I think he was some sort of cat, actually," Mercury said musingly.

"What? Like a puma?" she asked.

"Yeah, there ya go."

However, upon the moment that Mercury had finished his somewhat sarcastic quip towards the now dead bookstore owner, both he and the pickpocketer somehow felt uneasy immediately afterwards as Makuta's presence suddenly appeared within the room in the familiar form of dark black shadowy flames with a tinge of dark red to them as his unnerving gaze was directed upon them.

" **So my observation was not incorrect...** " he spoke " **Do you have any notion from the near consequences of your interference?** "

"Um... yes," Mercury replied, still keeping a cool mannerism "Excuse us for simply doing our job that an incompetent 'master criminal' would have probably not..."

"Quiet," Cinder interrupted as she glared at both him and Emerald "Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?

As she spoke, Roman having regained a majority of his composure pointed a finger at the pair while somewhat laughing in agreement, taking care to avoid having Makuta's baleful gaze redirected upon him.

"I just thought..." Emerald murmured.

" **According to Cinder, your identities are essential for her plan to succeed...** " he spoke in a disdained tone " **Had you been careless in your 'effort'... information about your involvement and said identities would have been at the fingertips of your enemy or even my brother!** "

"Hold on Makuta, we were just…"

"Don't think..." said Cinder "Obey."

"Yes ma'am," the expert pickpocketer said apologetically "It won't happen again."

"And you," she continued as she turned her gaze upon Roman "Why wasn't this job done sooner?"

"Uh..? Eh..? Eh..? EHHHHH!" he exclaimed "Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!"

"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask," Mercury remarked to which Emerald laughs at in somewhat accordance.

"Look around, kid," the criminal remarked "I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with! Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan and whatever Makuta wants me to do, it might make my next string of robberies go a little smoother!"

As soon as he finished his sentence by clenching his fist to emphasize his point, the black and red flames that represented Makuta reappeared to his left as the criminal backed up nervously from the presence of Ekimu's brother.

" **Regardless of your 'setback', you have done well for me** ," he spoke.

"Look 'tall, dark and fiery'," Roman replied, addressing Makuta in that manner "As too much as this is for me to ask, what else is it you want aside from just 'Overcoming the Toa and my brother'? I'd think I'd like to be in the know for that."

"Oh, Roman. Have a little faith," Cinder spoke as she approached him and placed her hand on his face. Roman turned his head away from her after a brief moment. "You'll know what you need when you need to know it. Besides, we're now done with Dust."

"O-okay, then what now?" he asked as she walked away from him.

"We're moving," she answered "Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight."

"Coordinates?"

"We're proceeding to phase two."

And with that, she along Mercury and Emerald began to walk away from the warehous premises as Makuta's presence disappeared into the shadows once more. Roman attempted to light a cigar that he had brought out, but when he reached into his pocket, he realized immediately that the emptiness to follow indicated that someone had taken his lighter. Emerald turned back briefly to face him and stuck out her tongue out defiantly, indicating that she had stolen it from him when he wasn't aware.

* * *

 **And there you go! To those who have already watched the episode this chapter has been based on, there's no need for me to really recap here. If anyone complains about their being little difference, I perfectly understand. I'm intending for other chapters within Volume 2's timeline of events to focus solely around the Toa so it doesn't appear to be a 'copy/paste' effort all around so that shouldn't be too much of a problem in the long run. With that said in the long run, bear in mind that the minimum I'll be able to do for each chapter may be monthly, so please take that with a grain of salt, but hopefully I should in some cases be able to update a little earlier than anticipated. Please share your thoughts or critiques in the reviews and I'll see you all next time. Until then!**


	12. Welcome to Beacon

**Hello everyone! I thought I would try a little bit of variation away from the episode this chapter is clearly based around by shifting the general POV to the Toa to try and make it a bit more... unique to say the least. Other than that, I hope you enjoy what I have for you.**

* * *

High in the afternoon sky, a large and somewhat unnerving aircraft descended through the clouds as approached the edge of Beacon Academy, the shadow cast upon the ground from said descent indicating that it was coming down to land on one of the large landing pads. Shortly afterwards, two Bullheads flew into the vicinity of the landing area and began their final approach to conduct their landing in that same area. From the top of the tower, just barely above the clouds from where they were currently standing, Ozpin, Ekimu and Glynda were observing everything that was going on at the edge of the academy grounds as they saw crowds of people walking across the pathways around the campus, most of whom were presumably from the ships that had just landed as evidenced by the technology that each of them bore on their armour.

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels," the huntress murmured.

"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man," the headmaster replied as the two saw three more Bullheads fly into the landing area at the front of the Academy "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore."

"So that is the Atlesian fleet you have been telling me about," said Ekimu as he gazed upon the various ships that were on the landing area. "Even with my understanding of your concern, I must admit it is quite the marvel."

A chirping beep sound rang out from the desk repeatedly as Ozpin turned around from the window to see a hollow-message "Access Requested" on the holographic screen above the front of his desk.

"Come in," he spoke.

The beep eventually subsided as the doors to the headmaster's office as they slide open to reveal a well dressed and clean man who walked into the room. He wore a white overcoat, with a grey undercoat, a black sweater alongside a red tie, and a single white glove that covered his entire right hand. His hair was black, with some areas being silver or grey in colouration, whist his eyebrows were a single, black colour. For whatever strange reason, this man had what appeared to look like a strip of silver metal just above his right eyebrow. As he entered the office, he briefly looked at Ekimu before walking forward towards Ozpin, who approached the man to greet him.

"Ozpin!" he cordially greeted as the headmaster of Beacon stood at attention.

"Hello, General," Ozpin greeted back.

"Please, drop the formalities, it's been too long," the 'General' replied as the two shook hands whilst Glynda approached him the two of them. "And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met."

"Oh, James!" she 'greeted' as she gave a personable wave and then dropped all pleasantries within their 'brief' conversation. "I'll be outside." And with that, she walked away from the pair and the Mask Maker who simply remained on the office floor.

"Well, she hasn't changed a bit," the General remarked to Ozpin before looking back to Ekimu, seemingly not surprised by seeing the Mask Maker in person for the first time. "And you must be one of the guests that you've mentioned."

"Indeed," he spoke "I am Ekimu, the Mask Maker as Ozpin has no doubt informed you of along with my accomplices."

"The Toa, I presume?"

Ekimu nodded in confirmation to the General's assumption as the two briefly shook hands whilst Ozpin had his attention turned away from the two towards his desk.

"So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" he asked whilst picking up a mug and a kettle, pouring as he directed his question towards his new accomplice "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students, for the Vytal Festival." The headmaster turned around and offered the cup to the General who gently took it with his left hand, a somewhat quiet, but noticable chink sound being heard, briefly catching Ekimu's attention for a moment.

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year," he replied as he produced a canteen from his inside coat pocket and poured its contents into the mug. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought that this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up and to learn more of these, beings from another world."

Ozpin walked around to his desk, with both a kettle and a new mug in hand as he sat down and poured himself some coffee for a drink.

"I can certainly appreciate the quality time between friends," the headmaster spoke "However, a small fleet outside my window has me concerned."

"Well, concerned is what brought them here," the General replied.

"From what I understand, Ozpin has told me that travel between the four kingdoms of Remnant has become increasingly difficult in recent times," said Ekimu.

"Then you should already know Ekimu, just like how Oz and I both know why I brought those men."

"We are in a time of peace," Ozpin interjected as he took a drink and set down his mug on the desk "Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression." As he finished his sentence however, the General was already setting his mug down on the front edge of the desk.

"But if what Qrow said is true along with the possibility of this Makuta…" he murmured.

"If what Qrow said is true, then regardless of Makuta's presence being on Remnant or not, the five of us will handle it tactfully," Ozpin replied, with further emphasis as he held up an index finger. "It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate one of the three virtues of Ekimu's world, unity, as well as peace. So I suggest that you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious," the General spoke.

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am."

The general then turned around and began to walk away from the desk to the doors leading out of the office. As he approached them, he stopped near them and looked back at both Ekimu and Ozpin.

"But ask yourself this," he said, his speech directed towards the headmaster himself "Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

And with that, he continued on his way to the exit as he left through the doors whilst Ekimu kept his eye on him as he did so. The Mask Maker then looked back towards Ozpin to see that his expression had somewhat gone solemn, presumably in regards to the General's last question before he had left the office premises.

"I hope they never have to," he murmured to himself.

"It is understandable that this Ironwood wishes to keep everyone safe, especially those within his own kingdom," said Ekimu "But I share your concern in how the situation may be handled."

"If your brother's spirit is as strong as you say," the headmaster replied "Then we cannot be complacent in the fact that he may be within Remnant, plotting his own schemes for our world. Should he reassemble the Mask of Dimensional Gates before us, then both of our worlds will be his personal dominion."

The Mask Maker grimly nodded in reply as he looked out of the window of the office into the far distance, hoping that his presumed fears would not be the ones to come to pass, given from that Remnant's own share of danger and threats that lay deep within its shadows.

* * *

"This is just fantastic..."

"Well, perhaps if you did not blast that Gravity Dust Oobleck gave you, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Tahu and Kopaka were not exactly having the best of moments in their current situation as evidenced by their current moods. They were currently floating upside down in the empty Amphitheater above the stage along with a small variety of Dust crystals surrounding them. Watching them from below the stage was Oobleck, whom the Toa of Ice had addressed at this very moment, along with Pohatu who had simply kept his palm over the 'forehead' of his mask, shaking his head for a brief moment and sighing in a little annoyance.

"Well, I'm afraid you'll need to wait until we can get another sample of Gravity Dust to free you from the gravity disruption that's suspending you," the hunter explained "Hopefully, that shouldn't take too long though."

"Then it better arrive sooner!" Tahu groaned as he tried to reorient himself with a forward flip, only to crash right into Kopaka in doing so.

"I'll leave you to it..." Pohatu sighed as he turned around and left Oobleck along with the two Toa to themselves.

The Toa of Stone left the Amphitheater through the front doors, his tone of voice and the look in his eyes being more than enough to tell that he wasn't exactly amused by everything that had been going for the day. Ignoring some of the bickering that was going on behind him between Tahu and Kopaka, the doors eventually closed behind Pohatu, leaving only the noise of some chatter from a few of the students that were walking around the academy hallways. Aside from that, it was peaceful for the moment, allowing him to sigh in relief that he was able to take comfort away from the chaos that had been unfolding at the moment. Unfortunately for him, the peaceful atmosphere didn't exactly last for very long.

"Easy there!"

Pohatu's eyes simply rolled as he looked to his right, just in time to see Lewa, now cleaned up of the various bits of food and drink from the earlier food fight. His armour was by no means any shinier compared to earlier in the day, but it was much cleaner as evidenced by the dripping water as he was walking down the corridor with Gali following close behind. When the pair saw the Toa of Stone, they came to a halt in front of him.

"Why am I not surprised...?" he muttered offhandedly as he noticed the state that the Toa of Jungle was in before looking to Gali "What did he do this time?"

"To put a long story short, he just had some more 'fun' with Ruby and the others," the Toa of Water answered "I've just had to spend the last hour or so cleaning up his armour."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad," Lewa replied in a bemused tone "At least we were having fun until Onua decided to intervene, suprisingly without breaking anything. Except maybe the floor which Glynda fixed up."

"Speaking of whom, where is Onua now?" asked Pohatu.

"I think he was heading back to the library," said Gali "He said he needed to take another look at one of the books you two found yesterday."

"Then I think I know where I'm going now," the Toa of Stone replied "Just make sure 'he' doesn't cause any more trouble after what Tahu and Kopaka just went through."

Moments after he had spoken however, shortly after a brief glance by Lewa who had known the comment had been somewhat directed towards him, a crash sounded from behind the amphitheater doors followed by some audible groans and grumbling of the familiar kind. Upon recognizing who those had belonged to, Pohatu and Gali could only stare towards the door, assuming what had just happened between the Toa of Fire and the Toa of Ice at this very moment as they heard them begin to bicker amongst each other once again.

"Well, I suppose we should let you on your way," the Toa of Water sighed "We'll meet back at our room later."

Pohatu simply nodded and left the front of the entrance to the ampitheater as Gali and Lewa simply shrugged before heading into the large room. The Toa of Stone continued walking down the many corridors of the academy buildings until he came across the doors to the library. Before he could enter, the doors swung open to reveal Blake who was leaving that very room, in a somewhat annoyed fashion as she stopped to see the Toa of Stone in front of her. Turning her attention away from him, she walked down the corridor leaving a rather puzzled look on Pohatu as he simply watched her walk away before entering the library himself, just in time to find Onua standing in front of one of the tables that were present.

Seated around that table were the remainder of Team RWBY along with Sun whilst standing around both it and alongside the Toa of Earth were Jaune of JNPR with the rest of his teammates seated at another table whilst Neptune stood just a little behind Weiss. Pohatu eventually came up alongside Onua as he then looked onto the table to see that some kind of board had been laid out along with a variety of small figurines depicting what appeared to be multiple warriors, ships and creatures of Grimm. Seeing that the Toa of Stone had just joined them at this very moment, Ruby waved to bring his attention over to her.

"Hey Pohatu!" she called "You interested in watching?"

"Watching what?" the Toa of Stone pondered, looking at the board that had already been set up on the table.

"The Remnant Board Game of course!" Yang replied "Each of us assume control of a kingdom and aim to conquer the other kingdoms until you assume full control of Remnant, making you the winner!"

"Right..." he murmured offhandedly, having not come across the concept itself back on Okoto.

"Although I share your confused sentiment, I find this 'board game' rather intriguing," Onua replied "It does measure one's ability of both planning and tactics as each player is in control of their own kingdom, leaving a large responsibility on their shoulders in turn."

"Ah, so you're Pohatu," Sun spoke, catching his attention "Lewa's told me and Neptune quite a lot about you and the other Toa."

"I guess..." he muttered, his eyes simply rolling for a moment having recalled the food fight that Gali had mentioned about to him earlier. Neptune studied his expression from his eyes alone closely before approaching the Toa of Stone.

"Not exactly the most sociable, I see," he murmured before cracking a smile and offering a hand to him "But I can live with that."

Pohatu simply shook Neptune's hand in greeting before looking back towards the table to see the board state as it was. He was still fairly confused about what was going on, given that he wasn't present at the time that the rules had been set out for everyone playing as well as Onua who had been watching since the start. Speaking of the Toa of Earth, he briefly tapped Pohatu's shoulder to grab his attention.

"You wouldn't have seen Blake leaving by any chance?" he asked.

"Only when I got here," the Toa of Stone answered, recalling that her expression showed that she wasn't exactly in the best of moods "What rubbed her the wrong way?"

"Um, I'd hate to be the impatient one," Weiss' voice called out in somewhat interruption, bringing the attention of everyone present back to her "But don't we all have a game to finish?"

"Ah yes, how silly of me to forget," Sun remarked as he picked up the cards that had been left over by Blake when she had decided to leave the library only a few moments ago "Shall we finish this?"

"You're on!" Yang called out in excitement before looking to Weiss "And given that you had bad luck in attacking your own forces, I'll even give you a handicap."

"What are you suggesting?" Ruby pondered whilst the Schnee heiress simply raised an eye at her teammate's statement, leading Jaune who had been watching (and eagerly waiting to try and help her in his own way) to silently pray for a chance to contribute.

"I'm letting Onua help you out through this last leg."

Whilst Jaune's expression had somewhat dropped in an act of nervousness, Pohatu simply turned to Onua who was somewhat surprised to say the least in regards to this unexpected turn of events. Even Ruby was somewhat confused by this little 'handicap' that her sister was offering to Weiss at this very moment, knowing that she had also been having her own share of bad luck throughout the whole game thus far.

"Come again?" Weiss murmured.

"Yang, I do kindly appreciate the offer," the Toa of Earth spoke up "But given the lead you had built up since the start, I'd advise going against this possible act of overconfidence."

"I'm not worried about that," Yang mused in reply "Besides, it wouldn't be fun if Weiss just struggled throughout the rest of the game, right?"

"Fine..." the Schnee heiress sighed _At least he might have the decency to know how to 'protect' a kingdom._

Onua simply chuckled in a friendly light-hearted manner before walking over to Weiss, leaving Pohatu to simply look over to the side as he watched the Toa of Earth kneel down to remain on eye level with the other players, knowing that the library chairs were too small to accomodate his somewhat large size.

"I still don't see how having you 'help me' might actually make a difference," she muttered to herself as she brought up her held cards up in view to Onua.

"Well, if anyone's got no further objections, shall we continue?" asked Sun.

"Fine with me," Yang replied.

"You've got it!" Ruby called in excitement.

"I guess..." Weiss murmured offhandedly.

And with that, the current four players along with the Toa of Earth and the bystanders to Remnant: The Game, continued to watch on as their 'contest' continued even further into the late afternoon.

* * *

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!"

"You're just mad 'cause the new guy beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened."

Later that night, Yang's earlier confident mood had been replaced with mere annoyance as evident by both the tone in her voice and her conversation with her younger sister at this moment. From what could be made out from their conversation, it sounded as if Onua's earlier warning in her overconfidence had ended up coming true in one way or another as from her description of the 'new guy', Sun had actually managed to somehow pull a come from behind victory with whatever Blake had left over for him, despite putting herself at a disadvantage for not paying attention earlier throughout the game up to the point that she decided to leave the library. Onua walked beside the two along with Weiss as they continued down the corridor back to their rooms.

"Well look on the bright side," Ruby spoke in an attempt to reassure her "I'm sure that Onua had just as much difficultly figuring out for himself."

"You mean when he helped me to allow Vacuo to be eliminated only after her?" Weiss replied "Need I remind you that we 'taught' him the rules as well."

"Oh yeah... that," she murmured, having previously forgotten about what had happened near the end of the game.

"Regardless, I believe all of you made a commendable effort," said Onua as the group finally approached the door to the room.

"Well, we'll be seeing you in the morning," said Ruby as she led Yang and Weiss into their room, closing the door behind them as they did so.

As the Toa of Earth looked to the door that led to the Toa's shared room, he glanced down the corridor just in time to see Tahu and the other Toa with the exception of Pohatu who was currently absent from the group at this time. The Toa of Fire and Kopaka begrudgingly were doing their utmost best to avoid glaring at one another in the eye, given their little 'incident' with the Gravity Dust earlier in the afternoon. Onua took note of their expressions as the other four Toa came to a stop to meet him outside of their door to their room.

"What seems to be the problem?" he asked in a polite manner.

"Something to do with Gravity Dust," Lewa replied bemusingly "At least, that's what they say was the cause."

"Well excuse me for not knowing that it was combustible," Tahu muttered.

"Perhaps if you had also known that triggering the effects of two Gravity Dust crystals in the same area at the same time would cause this 'gravity disruption' as Oobleck described to us," Kopaka interjected "We wouldn't have been floating upside down for several hours in the Amphitheater."

As the two Toa simply huffed and looked away from one another, Gali could only sigh at the state that the two of them were in from bickering over a small 'accident' involving the attempt of utilizing Dust in conjuction with their elemental powers. Before the five Toa could ponder any more on the subject, they suddenly heard Blake's voice sound out from the door leading to Team RWBY's dorm room.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Torchwick..." Gali murmured.

"The White Fang as well," Onua replied "This doesn't bode well."

"Mind giving us a catch up on this whole thing?" Lewa asked in eager anticipation.

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it," Yang replied from the other side of the door, presumably in response to Blake's speech just now, prompting both Gali and Onua to head to either side of the door whilst the Toa of Jungle simply went up against the door to his left side, attempting to listen in from there.

"Heck, I'm sure even the Toa could knock a few dents if Gali could already do some to Torchwick himself," Yang continued.

"Well I'm not!" Blake replied "They don't know the White Fang like I do! And the Toa already have their own problems with the Mask of Dimensional Gates!"

"Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the three of you think that you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells!" Weiss remarked dryly.

"Uh, who?" Ruby murmured.

"But let me once again be the voice of reason," the Schnee heiress interjected "We're students! We're not ready to handle this sort of situation!"

"Well yeah, but…"

"We're not ready!" she interrupted.

"And we may never be ready!" Blake replied "Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not!"

"Then you might get all the help we can give you," Gali quietly murmured to herself, causing Tahu, Lewa and Kopaka to simply look at one another before they looked back at the door leading to RWBY's dorm.

"Okay, all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye," Ruby's voice sounded once more from the other side.

"Yes! I love it when you're feisty!" Yang replied.

"Well, I suppose it could be fun," Weiss murmured.

"None of you said aye!" Ruby muttered.

"Alright then, we're in this together," Blake said in confirmation, her tone somewhat sounding as if her spirits had been lifted from discussing over the matter with her teammates.

Whilst the five Toa retreated away from the door that led to Team RWBY's dorm room, they began to take the time to reflect on what they had just overheard from this very moment. Gali already had prior knowledge of the White Fang's 'joint business venture' with Torchwick on the day that the six heroes and Ekimu had first arrived in the world of Remnant whilst Onua along with Pohatu already knew of Blake's previous alliance with the faunus terrorist organization prior to her defection due to their more radicalized views on the world around them. Then before they knew it, the door to the RWBY dorm swung open as Ruby herself rushed out in a hurry, much to the five Toa's confusion.

"I'll be right back!" she called, presumably to her teammates back inside the room.

Ruby was in such a hurry from her mad dash back to the library to pick up 'Remnant: The Game' that she had left behind by accident, that she wasn't completely aware of where she was going. Before long, she ran into a figure down the corridor and fell backwards to the ground. As the Toa ran over to her, they could see that the person that she ran into was Emerald, only she was wearing what appeared to be a black academic uniform instead of her usual attire. The same could be said for both Mercury and Cinder as their attire was completely different compared to when they were at the warehouse earlier in the afternoon.

"Oo-oof! Oh g-!" she groaned before looking up to the expert pickpocketer. "Sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Emerald replied as she offered her hand "Just watch where you're going."

"Oh, right, sorry," said Ruby as she was helped up onto her feet. "Um, I'm Ruby! Are you new?"

"Visiting from Haven, actually," Cinder answered as Emerald briefly stood aside and turned to look at her. Ruby stared at the newcomer for a moment, unaware of both what she was capable of and her 'alliance' with Makuta as the young woman in turn stared back.

"Ooh! You're here for the festival!" she cheered "But exchange students have their own dormitory."

"I guess we just got turned around," Mercury murmured musingly.

"Hey, don't worry, it happens all the time," Ruby remarked. As she had made her comment, she noticed Cinder glance across the five Toa that were currently present in the room, keeping her calm and collected smile along with her expression, not even flinching in regards to seeing such beings in her presence for the very first time.

"And if I've heard correctly, you must be the Toa," she spoke in what appeared to sound like a most gentle tone to the ear as she offered out one hand in greeting. "I must say, it's my appreciation to finally meet you in person, given the rumors that have spread across this academy."

"The appreciation is ours," Tahu replied in a bold manner as the two briefly shook hands "I am Tahu and these are my comrades."

"Uh," Ruby interrupted, shortly after the handshake of 'friendship' had been conducted "Your building is just east of here."

"Thanks," the young woman replied in response "Maybe we'll see you around."

"Yeah, maybe!" she called out as the trio turned their backs away from the five Toa and began walking down the corridor until they were about to turn around a corner "Oh, uh, and welcome to Beacon!"

And the moment that she and her associates had vanished behind the corner, Cinder grinned evilly and her eyes glowed menacingly as the three of them continued towards their 'assigned' dormitory. Indeed from what wiser eyes would have been able to notice, everything was going according to plan and the people within the academy, did not suspect a thing. And with the Toa remaining unaware of the ploy for good measure, that was all but guaranteed.

* * *

 **And there we go! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to what I have planned over the coming months. Until then, I'll see you all next chapter once more!**


	13. Update: Hiatus Note

**My fellow readers. It is with deep regret that I must inform you that until around the end of the year or further notice that I will be putting Masters of Remnant on permanent hiatus. Several reasons have factored into this sudden announcement, one of which being how I intended to follow the canon of RWBY up to Volume 4, whose timeskip has meddled greatly with a few portions of my original plan for the story before deviating into its own element and another being LEGO's most recent announcement for BIONICLE since the last two episodes of Journey to One were made available for viewing. I sincerely apologize for this in advance, but until I can sort out what I intend to do with the story and where I can go from there, I cannot continue the fic as it is.**

 **But do not lose hope. If the worst comes to pass for Masters of Remnant however, I shall be willing to reboot the story from scratch, now that BIONICLE G2's story has officially come to an end (which should make things easier in plotting out a new story in that regard) and that information for Volume 4's timeskip has proven to be most beneficial in trying to plan things out for the future. Until I upload the next chapter after this hiatus has passed over or I make another announcement, this will currently be the final update for Masters of Remnant for the long term run. Other than that, I thank you all greatly for the support thus far and I hope you are willing to be patient for the coming future. Until the next update whilst I attend to my other fics in the meantime, I will see you all soon.**


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